Queen of Blood
by SirWill
Summary: Taylor Hebert dies in the locker. Then she wakes up in her grave, changed. Powerful. With faint memories of a life not her own. And why does she dream of a castle in the mountains?
1. Awakening 1-1

A/N: I got into Worm recently, and I freakin' love it. Unfortunately, I own nothing of it or anything else that even looks vaguely familiar. I love the versatility and imagination of the powers on display, and thus I couldn't help but hop in myself. Kudos, Wildbow, kudos!

And since I'm a Castlevania fan (both classic and Lords of Shadow continuity), I had to get this out somewhere. There's going to be elements of both in here, but nothing truly concrete.

I know it's been ages since I've posted anything here, but, hey. I've lurked. And lurked. And lurked. I figured it's about time I stretched my creative muscles a bit, again. And holy crap, nine years since I posted anything? Yeah, this is overdue. I gotta kill my old muse, excuse me.

Yeah, LoS2 was somewhat disappointing, but there was good in there. Probably all the more disappointing because of that. If it had been a complete flop, it wouldn't linger.

* * *

 _Destination._

 _Agreement._

 _Trajectory._

 _Agreement._

 _Concern._

 _Confidence._

 _Rene-_

 _ **Rage cold enough to freeze Hell itself. Hatred hot enough to sear every world that nestled in the heavens.**_

 _ **Power enough to reshape a world. The will to see it through.**_

* * *

I looked back and forth down the hall, trying to keep my head down. A chill whipped through the air, making me shiver, reminding me of the stickiness that covered me. It froze against my skin, making everything just that much worse. I shuddered away from the thought, but I couldn't help but be constantly reminded of it.

One moment, I had been in the locker, screaming, crying, begging for help. Laughter, _their_ laughter ringing in my ears. The next...something twisting in space, far larger than I could comprehend. Raining pieces of itself down on the Earth, one coming for me, and then...something made of darkness and flame. And then this cold hall.

Was I dead? I wasn't expecting the afterlife to look like this. I sure didn't feel dead. I felt too miserable to be dead. So where the hell was I? I didn't know of any place like this in Brockton Bay. It never got this cold, there. Winters weren't exactly fun, but this was on another level.

I stumbled as I moved along the hall, the cold stone floors chilling my feet even through my shoes. Torches hung on sconces, warming things somewhat, but not enough to make things exactly comfortable. Even if I hadn't had so much toxic waste covering my legs.

At least the bugs covering me had quickly scattered or died in the chill. A small part of my mind was keenly aware that I would be joining them if I didn't find somewhere warm. And soon. My muscles ached, the exertion of my struggles to escape the locker, and I knew I'd just traded one predicament for another.

Stopping by one guttering torch, I basked in the feeble warmth it offered, before I pulled it out of the sconce and moved onward. Turning a corner at the end of the hall, I perked up as I heard the faint sound of falling water. Carrying the torch, I felt my way down the corridor, stepping carefully over the loose rubble that covered the floor.

I came to a pair of wooden doors, the designs on them intricate. Carved with golden dragons, in combat with much smaller massed knights. I pushed on the door, already dreaming of the chance to get warm.

It didn't budge. I let out a wracking sob. I was beginning to suspect doors everywhere hated me in particular. Along with everything else in the universe. Ever.

I screamed with rage and hit it, feebly, and the door jostled, opening a crack. Inward. I felt foolish, I hadn't even thought to try pulling on the rings of the door's handle. The roar of rushing water growing louder. Even better, heat and steam flowed from the crack between the doors, and in almost desperate need I pulled it open.

Before me lay an ancient bathhouse, a large pool resting on the far side of the room. The steam rising from the pool called to me, and I dropped the torch, the flame guttering as it bounced on the stone floor before it rolled up against a wall. Desperately I shed my clothes, not wanting to feel the sticky mass of congealed vomit on me a moment longer, the desire to get clean overriding all sense. I dropped my glasses atop my clothes and slid into the pool.

The heat of the bath soaked into me. I let out a gasp of pleasure and relief, closing my eyes as I no longer felt so horridly, horribly filthy. I didn't have anything unsoiled to work with, so I scrubbed my skin with my hands. I was vaguely aware of the filth coming off my legs, the clotted, rotting blood staining the water around me.

I nearly fell asleep there, in the pool, the blessed heat filling me, contrasting with the chill that had sapped so much of my strength. I lay there at the edge of the pool, feeling my strength return slowly, when the air began to taste...different. Coppery.

I opened my eyes and let out a scream. The steam was now stained a deep crimson, and the pool was filled with blood.

* * *

I awoke to face...nothing. It was utterly, completely dark. I started gasping as I flashed back to the locker, covered in insects and filth...

Only to scream as I realized I was still trapped in the dark. I could feel something soft surrounding me, but behind that softness was a hard barrier. It lay in all directions, and no matter how much I struggled, pushed, or kicked, there was no sign of it giving under my efforts. The only good part about it was that I had more room than in the locker.

Barely.

Had to get out. Had to get outoutoutouthadtogetout!

The world twisted sickeningly, and then I was dumped onto cold, wet grass. The streetlights seemed to blaze nearly blindingly after that sudden shift. Oh, it was raining, too. Apparently even the weather hates me.

...who was I, again?

I was...I was...a slab of stone caught my attention.

 _Here lies Taylor Hebert_

 _Beloved daughter_

 _June 19, 1995-January 7, 2011_

Oh. Oh hell. That brought a lot back.

I looked down at myself. The cold rain soaked through me, but it didn't hurt. Just made things leaden, unfeeling. I lifted my hands to see I was wearing a dress. A dark, black dress. I'd never worn it in my life.

The answer smacked into me like a baseball thrown by Alexandria. It was a funeral dress. That meant the space I had been in was...was...my coffin. I'd somehow shifted myself from inside my grave to on top of it.

I let out a scream to the uncaring sky.

* * *

Brockton Bay wasn't exactly the best town to grow up in. The house I grew up in was in rough shape, built back...I actually wasn't sure when. There was a coal chute in the basement, though, designed to heat the whole house, though it hadn't been used anytime I could remember.

...and why was my mind focusing on these details? Right, because I'd been standing here, in the pouring rain, at night, looking at my house. For at least half an hour. Every part of my mind that wasn't running on its own weird tangents was consumed by one thought.

What would happen if I walked up and knocked? Would my dad still be there? Would he be happy to see me? Would I frighten him half to death? Would I frighten him TO death?

My fingers trembled.

Regardless, I didn't see any good options. Steeling myself, I walked up to the front porch. I tried the door, and it was locked. Of course it was locked. I just needed to get my key...

Which was definitely not on me. I nearly broke down, tears welling up in my eyes. I walk away from my own grave and my house's front door is what makes me break down.

Okay Taylor. Think. Thinkthinkthink.

I walked around the back of the house, hoping to see if there were any lights. Any sign of life inside. The back door's latch had always been a bit finicky. Not quite 'open it with a credit card' but with the right jostle and just enough pressure, I could get in. That had been helpful when the Terrible Trio had stolen my keys, once.

I jiggled the doorknob, then pushed upward on the door and put my body weight against it. I kept jiggling the knob, waiting for the tell-tale click of the latch releasing, and...

The door swung open with a crack. I blinked as I looked at the doorframe. I'd completely broken it.

What the hell happened to me?

There was a whistle of something coming toward me, and it smacked right into my side. I let out a cry of pain as I fell to the floor, as the attacker advanced on me, baseball bat in hand.

It was my father, Danny Hebert, and he held the bat with both hands.

"...dad?" I managed to croak out. My voice barely sounded human, rough and raw. But it was enough to make him pause, his eyes widening.

"Taylor?" He managed to whisper in the darkness, his voice filled with a dreadful, horrible hope. We both froze for a few long seconds as his eyes examined my face, as I examined his. He was thin, pale. Nearly emaciated. All of his body fat was gone, and his muscles were thin, reedy. His mouth opened and the bat shifted as he tightened his grip on it.

Finally, he managed to speak. "Whoever you are, you've got a lot of nerve wearing her face."

I made a small cough as I pressed my hand to my side, where he hit me. Funny. It didn't even hurt now. The cough was more habit than anything. Desperately, I spoke. "Remember what you said to me, after Mom's funeral?"

He paused, anger and grief filling his face, the bat twitching in my direction.

My voice cracked as I made the words. "You said 'I know nothing is going to be the same now, kiddo. It may never be just okay ever again. But no matter what, I'm here for you, and I love you.'"

The bat slipped from his grasp, clattering on the floor.

* * *

Hot tea warmed my hands as I held the cup. My dad sat in a chair, facing me as I sipped from it, shivering and shuddering. The cold didn't seem to really effect me, but the warmth was pleasant, at least. His eyes were filled with pain and hope. He looked broken. I...felt exactly the same way.

At least I'd managed to get something to wear other than my funeral dress. Under the light, it was plain it hadn't held up too well. Splotches of discolouration where it had begun to rot. I hadn't noticed in the rain. Jeans and a t-shirt, that was much more...me.

Okay, I wasn't exactly very flowery with my descriptions, here. Give me a break, I'd just walked away from my grave today.

Dad's voice was rough as he spoke. "I kept your room just as it was since..." His voice caught, tears in his eyes. "They pulled you out of that locker, Taylor. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. You were..." Deep pain filled his eyes.

I sipped from my cup, a lump in my throat. I shuddered as I remembered it. For me, it had just been a few hours ago. "I screamed, begged for help. I remember being laughed at. Then...I was in the graveyard. I just...came home." I swallowed hard, tears flowing freely. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, dad. I'm so sorry..."

He gently took the cup from my hands, setting it aside before he wrapped me in his arms. I sobbed into his shoulder, the well of emotions too much for me to handle.

* * *

I was in The Castle again. This time I was there almost the second my head hit the pillow.

This time, though, I wasn't cold. At all. Huh. Apparently The Castle didn't just sit on a mountain, it sat on a volcano.

How could I know that? Well, the streams of lava going around everywhere was a pretty good sign. You didn't need to be a vulcanologist to know that molten rock meant volcano.

I guess my dreams are weird. I wonder why I keep dragging up this kind of thing.

So here I am, in an enormous cavern that held immense equipment, the kind of thing a medieval smith would make for his forge, if he happened to be a mad Tinker too. There was a mould casting leaning against a crumbling brick wall that would have worked just fine as a wall to my entire house. It looked like it was for a sword. If Godzilla ever needed a sword.

Next to the casting looked like the entrance to the forge proper, and I felt interested in taking a look inside. There was just one little problem. The river of lava between me and the other side of the cavern.

And since, apparently, I couldn't fly like Alexandria in my dreams, I would have to find a way over there. This little ledge I found myself on wasn't exactly comfortable, and the heat was oppressive. Though I knew that in real life just being this close to lava would have cooked me to death already.

The ledge was small, and thin, but it did circle around the cavern. The light from the molten lava below was enough to make it easy to see, if a bit bright.

I'd like to say I confidently walked over the ledge with the confidence of Eidolon facing a street-punk. What I actually did was hug the narrow ledge and shimmy over, crawling on my stomach, keenly aware of the heat flowing over my arms. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little thrill, both of fear and excitement.

Well, I did once want to be Indiana Jones' sidekick when I was a little girl. I probably would have been less irritating than Short Round, anyway.

I stopped as the ledge came to an abrupt end. I carefully looked up. Wait a bloody minute. This ledge went all the way over there! I could see it clearly from where I started!

Stupid dreams. Hey, wait a second...

Carefully, I felt my way forward, putting my hand over the edge of the ledge. I wasn't feeling so much heat, there. I lowered my hand, and...solidity! It actually felt like granite.

And I couldn't see it. Creepy castle has an invisible bridge. Well, invisible ledge. This made no sense. But, hey, dream. What did I know?

So I kept bravely (timidly) striding (crawling) over the invisible bridge. Finally, I was on solid and visible ground, and I got to my feet.

I walked carefully into the forge, taking a moment to enjoy the smell of treated leather, hot iron, oils and sweat. All right, it wasn't a pleasant smell, by any means, but there was something primal about it.

A flicker of shadows caught my eye, and I turned to see another chamber. The room was circular, and resting on a pedestal was a black orb, smoke and shadow writhing around it. It was almost hypnotic, and without thinking, I reached out and took it in my hand.

There was a shock, and sudden heat flowed up my arm. It didn't hurt, but it felt like every muscle in my arm had tensed up to nearly the breaking point before it relaxed. The shadowy orb rested in my palm, and I breathed with excitement. It felt good. Like I was holding fragment of pure power in my hands.

The orb suddenly cracked open, dark red blood flowing over my hand. I could feel it curling around my skin as if it was alive, my body readily accepting it. In a mere moment, my hand had what appeared to be a gauntlet made of shadow and blood. It seemed to be just begging to be used.

On instinct, I turned and cut the air with the gauntlet, and a long stream of glowing red shadow extended outward, forming a whip that easily shattered the pedestal the orb had rested upon.

I couldn't help it, I giggled. I really, really liked this. A moment's concentration, and I could feel the blood coursing through my veins, responding to my will. Freaky, but cool.

"...aylor? Taylor? Can you hear me?"

The Castle faded into crimson mist around me, and I opened my eyes.

* * *

I awoke on the couch, my dad watching me. He looked tired, worn, but at least somewhat more content. As my eyes opened fully, he gave a gentle smile and pushed my hair from my eyes.

"Morning, kiddo."

I gave him a weak smile. "Morning, dad. Were you awake all night?"

He looked tired, bags under his eyes. I rose from the couch, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. He gently kissed my forehead in return. "Yeah. I was afraid that if I did, when I woke up..."

I nodded slowly. "That I'd be gone when you woke up." I pulled myself together, the feeling of my blood rushing through me helping to calm my emotions. "How long was I...?" I trailed off, not knowing how to finish my question. Dead? Only mostly dead? Pining for the fjords?

Dad's voice cracked as he hugged me. "Three months. It's April 4th." He gently stroked my cheek. "How did you come back?"

I shuddered. "Dad...I think something happened to me in the locker. I think I'm a parahuman. Last night, I just...woke up in my coffin. I'm not sure how I got out of there."

Dad listened patiently as I described everything. The bullying that started a year and a half ago, Emma's sudden turn from my best friend to worst enemy. How I was afraid of bringing any of it up to him, knowing how hard it already had been under the weight of Mom's death. How I had hoped my three tormentors had finally gotten bored of making me miserable, only to be pushed into my own private hell.

All the while, Dad's face had gotten more and more cloudy. Danny Hebert wasn't a very violent man, and he had a long temper. But when something happened to push him into rage, it was a thunderous, terrible rage. The kind of anger that would give any gang leader in Brockton Bay pause, if only for a moment.

Considering all of those were parahumans, that said something.

He surged to his feet and overturned the coffee table, everything on it scattering all over the living room. He spent a long few minutes ranting as I shrank into the couch, my eyes wide with fright.

Dad caught my expression and slowly, carefully reigned himself in. "I should have guessed something when Alan moved away a month later. 'Job opportunity in New York,' my ass."

I managed to crack a small smile. Of course he'd move to protect Emma. It was horrible, but it was also understandable. You do what you can to protect your daughter. Even if she's a murderer.

An odd thought crossed my mind. If I was resurrected, did that make her an un-murderer? I shook my head as I spoke. "We need to...do something, dad. Sooner or later it's going to come out that I've come back. I'd rather not get drafted into the E88."

Dad nodded. "This afternoon, we'll take a trip to the PRT building." He winced. "They'll probably want to run tests...even these days, a resurrection is something unusual. There's other explanations they'll probably look for, first." He held up his hand as I opened my mouth. " _I_ believe you, kiddo, I know you're my daughter. But we'll have to prove it to them. Somehow."

I sank into the couch, sighing. "I'm not sure how. I guess they can just do a paternity test or something..."

He gently squeezed my hand. "We'll figure something out, okay?"

We shared a hug. It was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears.

* * *

The sun was bright, nearly painful as my dad drove toward the PRT building downtown. I kept having to shade my eyes from it, grimacing. I could feel my skin tightening, hurting on every inch of it exposed to the light. It was almost as if the sun had a grudge against me, personally. To try and stave off the effects, I pulled my hood up over my face. It still hurt, but at least it wasn't so torturous.

Besides, compared to the dark, I almost preferred it. When it was too dark, I kept on remembering what it was like inside my locker. And my coffin. Both at once, sometimes.

As he pulled into the PRT parking garage, I let out a sigh of relief. Dad shot me a look of concern, but I gave him a smile and he smiled back, if a bit weakly.

"Time to face the music." He said, his voice filled with false cheer.

I just blinked, managing only to shake my head. We got out of the car and walked into the front entrance. I looked around with interest. It was a wide open room, several pillars near the back walls and hallways, with none up front. My eyes spotted several sprinklers and nozzles in the ceiling. Some of them looked to be the ordinary fire sprinklers, but the other ones weren't familiar to me.

I somehow knew I was missing something. Something I'd learned about a while ago, but just couldn't bring it up. Then I blinked.

"I can see..." I whispered. I didn't have my glasses on, hadn't even thought of them since I woke up in my coffin, and yet my eyes were clear. All right, superpowered laser-eye surgery!

My dad shot me an odd look as we walked up to the receptionist, a pretty, thin blonde. She was obviously there to put the best face forward on the PRT. Made sense.

"Welcome to the Parahuman Response Team headquarters for Brockton Bay. How may I help you today?" She said with an astonishing amount of perkiness. How much coffee had she had already?

Dad managed to return the smile. "Danny and Taylor Hebert, for one O'clock." I managed to make a small nod. Stupid shyness.

She took a moment to look at her computer, and gave a nod and a smile. "Excellent. You're expected." She tapped a button on her intercom, and spoke. "Greg, Heberts for one here."

" _Got it. Be there in a moment."_

Danny and the receptionist shared an awkward smile as I fidgeted. The light pouring in from the front windows made for a nice view, but it wasn't comfortable for me. I'd be happier once I got inside an office or something.

A pleasant-looking young man came from the back halls, giving us a friendly wave. When we approached, he smiled at us. "Hello there, Daniel, Taylor. I'm Greg Landers, and I'm supposed to escort you to the interview room."

My dad nodded, gesturing. "Please, lead the way."

Greg led us through the building, bringing us to a plain room. I noticed more of those nozzles in the ceiling. We both sat down while Greg pulled his phone from his belt, making a quick text. He gave us a grin. "Armsmaster should be here shortly. Please, make yourselves comfortable."

We nodded, then Greg walked away. I gave a nervous smile to my dad, and he gently patted my hand. "It's all right, Taylor, things are going to be okay."

I appreciated the sentiment, even if he was lying. Things hadn't been okay for a long time, now.

The door opened, and in strode Armsmaster. He didn't have his iconic halberd with him, but that didn't matter. In his blue and white armor, the man probably had a hundred little gizmos designed for just about everything.

He didn't offer a hand, just a curt nod. "Mister Hebert." He looked to me, though I couldn't see his eyes through his helmet. I could just barely see his mouth through his beard. "And you claim to be Taylor Hebert."

Anger surged through me as I got to my feet. I'm being accused of _this_ , now? "I _am_ Taylor Hebert."

He paused for a moment, his lips curving into a frown. "Miss, please calm down. I'm here to help. We just need to verify a few things."

Memories came in a rush. Putting in documentation to the school staff about being bullied, hoping for change. Being ignored. Everything coming down to pretty-girl-says with friends against me alone. Never being believed or having any backup at all.

I saw red. There was a flicker of movement at my side, but I didn't notice much with my gaze on Armsmaster. "Verify? I ended up _dead_ because the fucking school wouldn't verify that I was going through hell. Because all they listened to was the popular girls, and not the 'problem student.' Know why I was a problem student? Because I was attacked every single day! By Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess."

Armsmaster had been shifting slightly as I spoke, but he froze at that. "Are you sure?"

My anger turned into a tide of white-hot rage. He doesn't believe me. Nobody ever believes me. They always said I was lying to get attention. And one of the heroes I looked up to as a kid was _just like them._ "Are you calling me a liar!?" I was moving forward before I knew it, my hand tingling.

Armsmaster raised his hands, taking a step toward me, closing the distance.. "Miss, please, if you don't calm down, I'll have to restrain you."

This little _gnat_ presumes to give me orders? "Don't tell me to calm down!"

Armsmaster grabbed my wrist, and on instinct, I flicked up my arm. A red streak flicked from my hand, slashing against Armsmaster's chin, making him stumble back as his lip was suddenly bleeding.

I looked down at my hand, my forearm covered in the shadow-gauntlet. I froze in surprise.

I looked up to meet my father's eyes. Danny's eyes were wide with surprise and fear.

Fear of me. My dad was afraid of me.

That snapped me out of my anger, the irrational rage replaced by horror.

An alarm sounded, then suddenly the nozzles in the ceiling swivelled. I let out a shriek of surprise as they started spraying a foam all over me. I tried to move, but it quickly hardened. I became all the more frantic as the foam began covering my face, cutting me off from the light in the room. I began to panic as the world was cut off from my senses.

Please let me out! I won't tell anybody if you let me out! Pleasepleasepleaseplease...

There was a rip of displaced air, and I was free, right in front of Armsmaster. He stumbled back in surprise, before he began reaching for his belt.

I moved on instinct. I had to get out. They were going to push me back in the locker where I'd be bitten and stung and I'd cry and...I pushed him against the wall with all my strength, and he slammed into it, hard. Turning, I raced back the way we came, tears flowing down my face.

My dad was afraid of me and they were going to lock me inside a box again! Nononono!

The nozzles that held containment foam aimed my way, and I instinctively zigged, zagged, and dodged as they sprayed. Once I reached the front entrance, I could see the sunlight being cut off as metal shutters started coming down. If I could just get through those doors, they couldn't put me back in a box!

Ten feet from freedom, foam managed to tag my leg. I fell to the floor as it hardened, panic overcoming me as they covered me completely, now they had a stationary target. I screamed through the foam, the feeling of being enclosed yet again scaring me. Not again not againnotagainnotagain!

There was another sickening twist in the world and then I was seeing, and standing again, right before the front doors.

The front doors that were now sealed shut by the shutters. I hit them in my panic, knowing freedom was inches away. I clawed and scratched at the shutter, doing negligible damage, trying my best to do something, anything to get away from these people who were trying to lock me away in the dark again.

A group of four PRT troopers approached, carrying what looked like flamethrowers. It wasn't, though, as they began spraying more of that containment foam at me. I shrieked. As if in response, the world twisted again, and suddenly, I was outside, blinking, then whimpering as the sunlight started irritating my skin.

I turned and dashed across the street, deftly dodging as a car came to a screeching halt just in front of me. I ran as fast as I could, knowing that I'd likely be caught if I couldn't pour on the speed. I went up the street, through an alley, excitement and sheer _fear_ broiling in my head. I'd be hemmed in on foot rather quickly if I couldn't get _twisting twirling screeching avoid hard surfaces find space dodge red eat bug avoid tree claw bird_ and...what?

How the hell did I get on the rooftop of a building three blocks away?

And more importantly, how do I get down?


	2. Awakening 1-2

A/N: Just uploading here from elsewhere. Things may change a bit as I format for here.

* * *

Okay. Apparently, I've gone and hurt one of my childhood heroes, traumatized my father, pissed off the PRT and got myself stuck on a rooftop in the middle of downtown.

What am I going to do next? I'm going to Disneyland!

I giggled to myself. I knew I was messed up, considering everything, but I just had to keep going. Not like I had much other choice, here. And I had to get a handle on my new abilities, whatever they were.

I didn't want them to catch me. They were going to put me back in a box. The very idea of a tiny space made me sick. I shuddered, trying to breathe. I felt like every nerve was dialed up to eleven, everything bombarding me all at once. I got away once but I was lucky.

My emotions were bouncing all over the place. What's wrong with me?

I looked down at my hand, flexing and relaxing it. With a twitch of thought, my hand was covered in that shadow-gauntlet, and with another twitch it vanished again. Apparently, I'm now easily amused. Twitch, it's back! Twitch, it's gone! Look Mom, I can do magic! Tada!

I bit my lip and brought the gauntlet back, slashing at the air with it. As in my dream, an arc of a glowing red shadow slashed outward, following the motions of my hand. With a thought, I could harden it, make it into a solid stick, but that took effort. It seemed to default to a whip. It acted easily when I slashed it about as a whip. Call me Mistress Pain!

Well, I wasn't going to complain. Since when did parahuman powers make any sense, anyway?

Okay, now, how do I get down from here? There was a roof door, but it was locked. Maybe I could get down the same way I got up? I tried to concentrate on that weird sensation, of having dozens of eyes and points of view simultaneously.

And waited. And waited. My leg itched.

How had that worked? Okay, maybe the other method? I got out of my grave by wanting it, out of the hardening foam when I wanted it, and out of the PRT building when I wanted it.

I concentrated on the next rooftop over, which was, at least, closer to the ground than this twenty-story building. I want to be there. I want to be over THERE and not HERE. Let me be there. Now? How about now? NOW!

The world twisted. Good news, I now knew how my teleporting power worked.

Bad news, I was now in midair, over the alley between the buildings. I yelped, turning and trying to reach out for something, anything, to catch on, only to miss the side of the building by a few inches. Then I smacked into the ground.

Ow.

Well, on the plus side, I was in the shade now. And I was on the ground. The sun hurt my skin with every second of exposure, and the light hurt my eyes. To have some relief was welcome. It wasn't anything I couldn't withstand, but the shade was like a soothing salve.

Funny, the pain was fading rather quickly. I cautiously opened one eye, then both. I got a nice, clear view of some of the accumulated trash that littered in the alley. Ew. But, hey, alive! Maybe it cushioned my fall?

I slowly rose to my feet, frowning as I realized there was about an inch of trash on the ground. No way it could have absorbed enough energy for me to not splat. And yet, here is me, unsplatted. Guess I was tougher than I looked.

Which, admittedly, wouldn't be hard. I was a stick insect masquerading as a girl.

And, well, clothes ruined, again. Not as bad as last time, but still sucky. But...how had I survived that? I carefully felt my face, and didn't feel anything broken. I didn't even feel hurt, now. Though I was feeling hungry.

Scraping off my clothes as best I could, I walked out of the alley, wincing as I entered the sunlight again, trying to decide where to get something to eat. I groaned in annoyance as I realized something.

I had no money. At all.

Dammit.

Well, I guess it was time to steal from those who deserved it.

* * *

Finding Madison's house wasn't too difficult. There were only two Clements in the phone book. And the first one apparently lived in the more successful neighborhoods. Since Madison went to Winslow, she wasn't likely the upper-class Clements. Middle-class, maybe.

So, here I was. Hungry and bored. Bored and hungry. Here I am, Taylor Hebert, nascent superhuman, and the first thing I wanted to do was break into Madison's house, pull her out by the hair, hold her up to the cops and force her to give a full confession.

Instead, I teleported inside her kitchen and raided her fridge. Besides, Madison wasn't home yet, anyway. She was still at school. I could drag her out into full view by the hair after she got home.

I made myself a sandwich. Turkey, mayo, cheese. It was good. But not satisfying. I felt like I was craving something the turkey lacked. It filled, but my hunger remained. I guess I'd just have to try and find out what I was craving.

I rifled through her possessions. She had a nice room, showed either she or her parents had good taste about nick-knacks and such. And apparently, she collected little unicorns. And little stuffed toy dogs. It was almost disgustingly cute.

While I was here, I helped myself to some of her clothes. She helped kill me, the loss of a few clothes would be tiny, tiny, tiny recompense. I wasn't going to steal her best dresses, though. I could never pull off looking good in those. Or being comfortable. Besides, they weren't my size.

Instead, I stole a jacket, a sensible shirt, and a pair of jeans. I had to steal a belt, too, because her hips were wider than mine, but, hey, I wasn't planning on keeping these forever. I was just really, really, really tired of having garbage all over me.

Then, I went digging for dirt. I didn't have any hope that her phone would be here, so I looked for her diary. Nope. Either she didn't have one or she had it somewhere else.. So I tried her computer.

Ha. She didn't use a password to login from home. She did have one on her email, though. I tried to get in, but just couldn't guess it. I even checked under her keyboard, in case of it. Oh well. I tried. I shrugged, shut it down, then looked out her window and teleported into her backyard.

Another teleport and I was in the next yard. Again and I was on the next street.

Nice timing, too. Police cars rounded the corner ahead, moving toward Madison's house. Either I set off a silent alarm or the PRT was sending out a description of me possibly moving onto my bullies. Probably to try and protect them. I...found myself not caring, much.

I didn't feel any desire to kill them. I wanted them to suffer. Killing them would end that. I'd settle for seeing them lose everything they hoped for. Their futures for my life. If I hadn't become a parahuman, I'd be dead. Still had been for three months, apparently. I saw what the effect had been on my father, and _that_ angered me over anything else.

That kept giving me shivers, actually. Dead. Gone. Kaput. Then not.

I tried to put it out of my mind. I didn't actually experience the time, at least. It was like taking a nap. A nightmarish nap.

I looked down to see the shadow-gauntlet on my hand writhing. Whip Gauntlet? Shadow Whip? Whatever. With a shake of my head, I dismissed it and headed for the docks. I needed some time alone.

* * *

I watched the sunset over the city. Unfortunately, Brockton Bay couldn't get a good view of the sun going down over the water, but I bet the sunrise would be nice from here. Only way we'd get a sunset over the water here, like in all those movies, would be for the Earth to spin backwards.

Still, as the darkness rose, I let out a sigh of relief as my skin stopped protesting at the light. Blessed, soothing darkness rose over me, and I simply basked in the growing night. I felt...good. Hungry, but good.

Rising to my feet, I looked upward at the rooftop of a nearby warehouse. With some practice, I was beginning to figure out the limitations of my teleportation. Roughly twenty feet in any direction, as long as there was space for me to move into. Not exactly far, but with a bit of practice, it could be devastating. Thoom, thoom, thoom, and I was on the rooftop. It was making me even more hungry, but I felt the need to move, to prowl, to _hunt._

Feeling energy flowing through me, I took off running, leaping from the edge of the roof to land on the next, then the next, making jumps I'd have never even considered trying before. I nearly lost myself in the feel of it, my grace inhuman.

I made another leap high into the air, exulting in the freedom...and had just enough time to realize I'd misjudged. Instead of coming down on the metal roof of the next warehouse, I was going to come down on a skylight.

Before I could call up my teleportation power to redirect to the roof, I crashed through the glass and slammed into the concrete floor below.

Ow again.

I put my hands to the ground and looked up.

Ten men looked back at me. All Asian features, blocks of white powder sitting on tables, money on other ones.

Ah, crap. An ABB warehouse. Lovely.

We all stood still for a moment. Well, they stood still, I lay there in surprise. Then one of them let out a yell, knives and pistols springing into hands. Instinctively, I teleported behind the line of the first few rushing toward me, calling forth the Shadow Whip. I flicked my hand around me in a circular motion, and the glowing red line of the whip arced around me, slicing low.

It impacted the legs of five of the men, smashing hard, ripping through clothing and scoring flesh rather easily. They fell to the ground, screaming. I didn't have time to consider as guns rose in my direction.

In a flash, I was behind one, slamming my left fist into his side, my right hand grasping the arm that held his weapon. With a sudden jerk, I broke his forearm, the gun clattering to the ground. As he screamed, his friends turned toward me, and I hurled him at one, the pair falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Then I was shot. Repeatedly. The bullets tore through Madison's jacket, slamming into me with ease.

I went down, gasping. It hurt, not as much as I thought it would, but it still felt like someone was hitting my chest with a sledgehammer. More bullets hit me, and I went still, the world growing hazy. My hunger rose, but I felt I could barely move.

Feet shuffled up to my side, and I managed to blurrily see three of them around me, pointing their guns. A surge of rage flowed through me. These insignificant gnats would _dare?_

The anger gave me the energy I needed. I exploded off the floor, kicking the one right in front of me in the chest, sending him flying back in a howl of pain. The last two shot me again, pushing my rage, and my hunger, to a breaking point. I tackled one, putting my hand on his throat, instinct driving me as I leaned in.

Desperately, he shoved his wrist into my mouth, and I bit down.

Warmth. Delicious. Soothing. Powerful. Orgasmic. I felt complete, whole, _strong_. I sank my teeth deeper into his wrist and drank the flowing blood greedily. He was beneath me, screaming as I feasted.

Another bullet hit me, and I broke off, looking at the last gang member. I grinned, licking my lip as I savored the taste of blood in my mouth.

He turned to run, I tackled him like a leaping lion grabbing a gazelle. I sank my teeth into the first bit of exposed flesh I could find, his shoulder, and lapped at the wound. I was aware of his screaming, struggling beneath me to get me off of him, but it just seemed irrelevant. I held him down easily, despite the fact I weighed about half of his own mass.

I broke off as I felt his heart begin to slow, getting to my feet as I took stock. Every gang member was on the floor, whimpering, crying, clutching at wounds. My whip had sliced the first five men's legs to ribbons, while the other five were disabled. Broken legs, arms, bleeding from the wrist, from the shoulder.

I leaned over my last victim, ignoring his flinching, his attempts to get away. He was weak from blood loss, feeble. I knew if he didn't get help soon, he would die. He still might even with help. I quickly searched him, finding his cell phone and activating it.

This fellow was sensible, it had a passcode to unlock it. Luckily, this model of phone needed no code to call emergency services. I may have despised gang members, but I didn't want them dead.

" _911 Emergency."_

I spoke quickly. "Trace this call, I don't have the address. You have ten gang members down at this location. They have various injuries. Broken bones, blood loss. It's a drug warehouse. Send police and ambulance services."

These idiots may not have deserved help, but I wasn't going to be like my tormentors. Even with my new powers.

" _Are you a cape?"_

I debated what to say. I shrugged and put the phone on a table, leaving the line open. I could faintly hear the operator trying to get my attention, but I ignored the little voice. I spent a few minutes to rip the gang members' shirts to make makeshift bandages to slow the bleeding, for those who were bleeding. Which was most of them. Then I took off Madison's now-ruined jacket, tearing it apart to make makeshift bindings.

At this rate, Brockton Bay was going to run out of clothing in a month, the way I kept wrecking them.

As I heard sirens faintly in the distance, I knew I had just a few minutes. Taking a look at a stack of money on the table, I shrugged and grabbed it, heading for the doors. Could use some cash, and it wasn't like these people deserved it.

"Stupid white bitch." One of the gang members spat. I stopped, looking over my shoulder. It was the one I'd bitten on the wrist.

"Lung is going to burn you, you little bitch. You're fucking dead."

I smiled faintly in amusement. "Story of my life." Thoom. I was outside. Thoom again, I was on the roof opposite the warehouse.

I waited just long enough for both the police and ambulances to arrive, then I thoomed a few more times. I could feel the hunger within me, but it was faint. Guess I know what I was craving, now.

* * *

I took a seat on an apartment building's rooftop, looking out over the city. From here, it seemed nearly peaceful. Idly, I licked my fingers, tasting the drying blood on them. Now things were beginning to fit. My parahuman powers made me a vampire. I was a vampire. Vam-Pire. Vaaaampire. I ran the word around in my mind, both amusement and worry washing over me.

Was that what was wrong with me? I couldn't remember being this high-strung, this quick to anger. Was it my powers or what I'd been through, or both?

I couldn't really dwell on it.

I looked down at myself. The shirt I'd 'borrowed' from Madison was pockmarked with bullet holes. My skin beneath them was unbroken, despite the dried blood around them and the rather distinct memory of being shot. I had to try and figure out what else I could do. Control my blood, teleport, regenerate...drink blood. I knew some part of me should be horrified, but I wasn't. Maybe I was twisted in the head to start with. Or maybe it just felt...right, when I would have gagged at the thought a week ago.

Carefully, I put my thumbs onto my canine teeth, then focused. They lengthened and sharpened. I relaxed, and they retracted. Fangs, no fangs, fangs, no fangs.

I summoned the Shadow Whip, flexing my mind over the blood that made up some of its substance. It was my blood, but it was _more_ than that, somehow. I simply didn't have the words to describe the feeling to myself. Since it responded so readily, maybe I could do more with it.

The blood hardened between my fingers and I flicked it. The makeshift dagger flew through the air, burying itself in the gravel of the rooftop before it faded into wisps of smoke and shadow, returning to me in a thin stream. I grinned and tried it again, and again, and again. It took some effort, and my aim sucked, but I had freaky blood-daggers!

Well, if I was going to be a vampire, I may as well take the good with the bad.

And there was a _lot_ of bad, here. My dad was afraid of me. Afraid of me. I'd hurt Armsmaster and the PRT wanted to drag me in. They probably wanted to hang me by now. I'd almost prefer that over being locked up in any small space. I felt my whole world was over. More over.

But...maybe I had a small chance. Just enough of one to make sure this time, I'd be remembered.

Summoning the shadow-gauntlet again, I examined it under the faint light. I wonder...maybe I could make it stick around, some way, without me having to bring it out? It might help my clothing problem.

My blood sang through my veins as I called upon it, bending it to my will. Blood flowed from my skin, curling over my arm and solidifying, turning into a dark crimson bracer. I tapped it with my left hand, grinning. It even felt like metal, but it was lightweight. It also felt like part of me.

Which made sense. It was my blood. I shrugged to myself, looking to my left arm, repeating the process. Giggling with a weird, demented glee, I stood up, looking down at my body, forming the image of armor in my mind.

That was a bit harder, but a breastplate formed, rapidly solidifying. It made me a bit more hungry, but at the moment, I didn't care. Testing myself, I felt I could move in it easily enough, the material somehow flexing to my desire. Another minute's concentration put red leggings on over my jeans, a testing punch against it telling me it was as supernaturally strong as the breastplate.

On a whim, I decided to try something. The hunger grew as I consumed more of my reserves, but out of shadow and blood formed a black cloak with red lining, hanging over my shoulders and falling gracefully to my feet. Better yet, I could feel it as if it was part of my body, and it responded to my will. I could do that whole flapping in the breeze thing with no breeze! I spent a minute or two doing just that, giggling to myself.

The last part, I bit my lip as I considered, feeling a sharp fang press against my lower lip. Huh. Guess they come out on their own when I'm feeling peckish.

Most heroes and villains wore masks. Even some of those with public identities had masks. Having one would not just help me fit in the parahuman community, but would also help identify me as a cape outside of it. People listened to capes, whether hero or villain. I wanted to be listened to. I wanted to be more than I had been.

Almost without thought, it formed in my hands. A dark red helmet, the mouth visible, (just in case I needed a snack). The front of it was decorated with a roaring red dragon, the wings of the beast sprouting off the helmet itself, forming 'ears' if looked at from a distance. The mouth of the decoration was open, a fleck of gold in it, as if it was breathing fire.

I slipped the helmet on, and I felt...complete. I grinned, licking my fangs as I looked over the city.

I giggled a little. I knew I was an emotional mess. At the moment, though, from here, I was riding high.

Look out, Brockton Bay. Here comes Crimson.

...

Well, it'll do until I come up with something better.


	3. Interlude: Piggot, Armsmaster, Dragon

"So," Director Emily Piggot spoke, her fingers folded as she sat behind her desk. "We apparently have a new cape and a mystery on our hands. What do we have so far?"

Armsmaster took a moment to mentally review his notes, based on what had happened. His lip was healed, along with his other injuries, thanks to Panacea. "First, we were contacted by her father, one Daniel Hebert. He claimed his daughter had returned from the dead." He took a moment to bring up the relevant data on his tablet. "Taylor Hebert, found dead of a heart attack in her locker at Winslow High. She'd been trapped inside with...biological waste. Her body was partially consumed by insects."

Piggot frowned. "I remember reading about it in the newspaper, investigations turned up nothing of substance, and only one student who was willing to admit he even _met_ Hebert. There's currently an investigation by the city over this into Winslow's staff."

Armsmaster nodded. "Autopsy was performed by the BBPD, confirmed the diagnosis of heart attack. 'Frightened to death' was in the notes. Funeral took place two weeks later."

Piggot shuddered. "Christ. That's a trigger event if I ever heard one."

"Indeed. Which makes what happened this morning concerning. They came in at one, and I was tasked to meet them. On Daniel's description over the phone, we were concerned we had a Master, Stranger or Changer trying to affect him, possibly to get at the contacts in the Dockworker's Union, or to try and get at the accounts. They don't have much, but some of those try and stay low, doing what they can to not get much attention. I was already collaborating with Dragon, so I asked her to help identify this possible parahuman."

A voice spoke over the speakers, a slight Canadian accent coming through. The voice of Dragon, renowned as the World's Greatest Tinker, at least after Hero had been killed by The Siberian.

"When they walked inside, I pinged her on the facial recognition software. She matched Taylor Hebert's class photos from a year previous to 94.347 percent. The differential is within the margin of error, considering she lacked her glasses."

That made Piggot sit up. "So either it's someone who can change themselves to resemble someone else, but doesn't need glasses, or her power fixed her eyes."

Dragon's voice agreed. "Indeed. Still, that reduced the probability of her being a Master, such as Heartbreaker, by enough that I deemed it somewhat safe for Armsmaster to meet her in person. A Stranger would get past the first protocols, while a Changer would, theoretically, be able to pass facial recognition software regardless of our efforts."

Armsmaster nodded then, tapping the side of his helmet. "My helmet has a digital display, which would keep me from being affected by some of the less-powerful Masters on record. It also allows me to detect when someone is lying. It isn't perfect, but with the right statements, I can get to what someone believes is true and investigate from there." He tapped his tablet, showing Piggot. "File Hebert, 04/04/2011."

She started the video file, a screen on the wall lit up, showing the recording of the encounter from Armsmaster's helmet.

The point of view dipped. _"_ _Mr Hebert."_ It swung to face the clearly nervous young lady at his side. _"_ _And you claim to be Taylor Hebert."_

The nervousness was replaced by anger, the irises of her eyes turning red. _"_ _I_ am _Taylor Hebert."_

TRUTH

A pause. It was only through Piggot's long relationship with Armsmaster that she could detect the undercurrent of surprise in his voice. _"_ _Miss, please calm down. I'm here to help. We just need to verify a few things."_

Her face darkened with rage. Fangs grew outward, her canine teeth sharpening even as she spoke. Mister Hebert noticed, his eyes widening as he instinctively pulled away from Taylor.

" _Verify? I ended up_ dead _because the fucking school wouldn't verify that I was going through hell."_

TRUTH

" _Because all they listened to was the popular girls, and not the 'problem student.'"_

TRUTH

" _Know why I was a problem student? Because I was attacked every single day! By Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess."_

TRUTH

Piggot paused the recording. "That's horrid. If there's any truth to this at all, Shadow Stalker will likely be tried as an adult. She'd get life, at the least."

Armsmaster nodded. He didn't say anything. Not simply because he wasn't social. Simply because there was nothing to say.

She restarted the recording.

Surprise and concern in Armsmaster's voice. _"_ _Are you sure?"_

Taylor's agitation visibly grew, her eyes visibly and literally glowing. _"_ _Are you calling me a liar!?"_ She moved forward, her hand erupting into a mass of black and red energy.

Armsmaster rose his hands, placatingly, and also preparing for violence. _"_ _Miss, please, if you don't calm down, I'll have to restrain you."_

" _Don't tell me to calm down!"_

Armsmaster grabbed Taylor's wrist, trying to keep the possibly dangerous mass on her hand in check. She flicked her hand, a red streak flowing outward, and the camera viewpoint stumbled as Armsmaster fell back, a small grunt of pain reaching the audio.

Taylor froze then, staring at her hand. Piggot froze the video. "Her expression...she's surprised. Surprised she hurt you?"

Dragon's voice came over the speaker. "It's my opinion that she's surprised she could do that. As if she had no idea she even could do that. At the time, however, I missed that. Armsmaster was injured, so I activated the containment countermeasures."

The screen split, showing things from the point of view of a surveillance camera in the corner of the room, as well as showing Armsmaster's point of view. They began running in sync.

Taylor was frozen for a precious few seconds, then she looked at her frightened father. The containment foam sprayers activated, covering her, a shriek audible. The stuff was Dragon's design, a marvel of chemical engineering, able to hold down even mid-level brutes and yet porous enough for someone to breathe through it. It was an invaluable tool.

In a few seconds, the Hebert girl was completely covered in the foam, the stuff quickly hardening into a resin. Armsmaster's point of view shifted, taking a step toward the encased Hebert girl.

Only for the air to ripple and distort, Taylor flashing into existence in a burst of red energy, just outside the encasing foam. As she pushed Armsmaster up against the wall, Dragon paused the video, freezing things as they got a good look at Taylor.

Her eyes were glowing a blood red, fangs came down from her lip. She also looked utterly, completely terrified.

Dragon's voice was...cool, but with definite concern coming over the synthesizer. "I've seen that kind of look before. On kids just picked up from a fresh trigger event. I don't think she intended to hurt anybody. She moved to escape afterward, and didn't even attack the PRT security team who tried to stop her at the front door."

Armsmaster spoke. "She had her trigger event three months ago. That doesn't apply."

Dragon retorted. "If she's telling the truth, then from her point of view, she had her trigger event _yesterday_ , and being restrained is a reminder of that. Given how dangerous powers can be during such incidents, leeway is usually granted for all but the most dangerous cases. I think we can extend Miss Hebert the benefit of the doubt, considering her actions."

Piggot raised her voice then. "Well, regardless, this could have been handled better." She held up her hand as Armsmaster opened his mouth. "You did fine considering the information we had. However, your opening approach had things tense from the beginning. We need to figure out the next step from here. She's a teleporter who does not need line of sight. Depending on her limits, that alone could be extremely dangerous."

Armsmaster nodded slowly. "Point taken. At the moment, we've given her a few tentative ratings. Mover 4, if her teleportation ability is as limited in distance as it seems. Not easy to contain, but if it's by a few feet, it's possibly manageable. Changer 2. Apparently, that gauntlet weapon is made from her own blood." He tapped his chin, where the cut was healed. "We took a sample of it before Panacea healed me."

Piggot straightened in her seat. "Checked for infections?"

"Of course, clean bill of health. If it wasn't for the biological concerns, we wouldn't have bothered her."

Piggot let out a sigh. "Good. Last thing we need is a cape who can spread plagues. The Nine are bad enough."

Armsmaster grunted. "Agreed. Tentative Brute rating, as well. She's strong, more than her size and mass would indicate, but not much more than humanly possible. Brute one, at least. We're also considering a regenerator rating on her Brute status. Theory goes she triggered in the locker and went into some kind of metabolic stasis. We'd have to get further testing, and that we can't do while she's at large. "

"Well, we'll have to see about bringing her in. In the meantime...your equipment says she's telling the truth about Hess. If Shadow Stalker's truly responsible for what happened in January, then it's our responsibility to fix it. If she's not what she seems, however, we can't just clamp down on Shadow Stalker without evidence."

Dragon's voice came over the speaker. "What do you have in mind, Director?"

Piggot rubbed her lip, considering. "First thing, we compare the blood sample she inadvertently left with us to Daniel Hebert. Secondly, we check her gravesite. If her coffin is empty, that's telling, though not necessarily proof in the matter. We check the other two she mentioned, Clements and Barnes. We look for any documentation there might be about who was bullying Miss Hebert. If we, and the police, can find out exactly who put her in that locker, we can slam them for attempted murder." She made a wry smile. "Or perhaps successful murder, if it really was Taylor Hebert put into the ground."

Armsmaster nodded. "And the Wards?"

Piggot shrugged. "We inform them of a new, unknown teleporter cape. Tell them to call us in if spotted, not to engage or even speak with her. I'll want Miss Militia to make contact if possible. She's more likely to get a positive response at this point, I think. As for Shadow Stalker, place her on monitor duty for as long as we can without her getting suspicious. If I have to, I'll send her to guard duty in a Simurgh quarantine zone. But until we have solid evidence of her actions, we leave her where she is. If she's guilty and catches wind, she'll run. If not guilty, we'll apologize." She smiled faintly. "I doubt she'll accept it graciously, but that's all she'll get."


	4. Awakening 1-3

Brockton Bay was different by night. Even more different with my new status as a vampire. The night air seemed clearer, somehow. Or maybe that's just because my eyes weren't hurting from exposure to the sunlight.

Part of my mind was rolling around in laughter at the thought. I'd become an actual vampire. Oh, there's been capes out there kind of like me. Not too many who got a lot of publicity, mind, because the governments of the world didn't want to panic people. There was enough panic out there from certain maniac capes. Not to mention the Endbringers.

Hell, Lung could turn into a metallic dragon that only got bigger, tougher, and stronger the longer he fought. And apparently, I'd ticked him off. Or will have ticked him off, if he hasn't gotten word yet. I only stole a couple thousand dollars. And sold out a stockpile of drugs and money to the police. And gnawed on two of his men.

Okay, if I were him, I'd be pretty ticked, too. All the more reason to find somewhere nice to nap. Somewhere safe. Well, as safe as one could be in the same city as a dragon-man who probably wants you dead. Which wasn't much.

Lung was famous (or infamous) for going toe to toe with Leviathian and driving the Endbringer off. Thankfully, he didn't have the ability to control that transformation at will. Otherwise, we'd probably consider him a fourth Endbringer.

I shrugged at the tangent my mind was on and shook my head. First of all, I needed to get something to eat. Since apparently I could enjoy food, but it wouldn't actually fulfill the hunger pangs, I needed blood. And since I didn't want to become a wanton murderer or piss the PRT off even more than I had, I needed to find a way to get some without hurting anyone. Or at least, not hurting anyone who didn't deserve it.

Where's an Empire-Eighty-Eight member when you need one? I wouldn't feel _too_ bad if I snacked on a Neo-Nazi.

Maybe I can buy a lot of raw steaks? Well, okay, cook them a _little_ bit, as the idea of cold, bloody steak was only somewhat appetizing. Huh. My new tastes were weird. Still, it was the blood itself that seemed appealing. Like an utterly divine dessert that was hearty and meaty at the same time.

I considered my dilemma as I walked down the empty street. Where would I get steaks at three in the morning, anyway? On top of that, I'd have to sleep somewhere. The thought of sleeping during the day was growing more appealing, but even now, I was feeling somewhat tired.

Well, maybe I should reverse my priorities for the moment. Rest, then food. I could buy a lot of raw steaks when the stores opened.

I considered my options. Couldn't go home. Dad was scared of me. The memory of him cringing away from me was fresh and raw. Plus the PRT probably wanted blood for me attacking Armsmaster. I didn't really intend to, but I couldn't see them listening to me. Nobody did before.

Couldn't go to a decent hotel. I'd need ID, and I didn't have that. Even Winslow's crappy student IDs I lacked, on account of being dead for three months. Didn't want to go to a bad motel. The Locker was still fresh enough in my mind. And most of those rooms were small. I was pretty sure I'd hate small spaces for at least the next twenty years.

And of course, I didn't have any friends' places to crash at. Even if I had, they'd probably run in the other direction on seeing me. Hello friend! I'm back from the dead! Can I borrow your couch?

I decided to take a page out of the Merchants' playbook, at least for tonight. Find a warm dark hole and sleep there. Let's see...the Ship Graveyard. The remnants of Brockton Bay's once-booming shipping industry. There was bound to be a ship cabin I could sleep in, even if it was barely habitable.

So I turned and started running the way I came, trying to test my limits as I went. I could run faster than I had before I changed, and was definitely stronger. I half-wondered if I could move like some of the capes I knew about, flying or running at Mach speed. More, for some of the high-tier ones. Maybe I could pull a Velocity?

Faster. I leaped over a car, springing off a curb, going into a roll and getting back to my feet in an easy, smooth motion. I grinned ferally as I put on more effort. I felt I _could_ do more.

Faster. My legs pumped smoothly as I ran through the street, my wake scattering litter behind me. More.

Faster. I ran five steps off a wall before leaping off of it, getting enough distance in the air to soar over two parked cars before hitting the ground again. I landed on my feet, cat-like.

Faster. I jumped again and _clawing air circling around tasty bugs sounding out TREE TREE wall there water rust bite bite bite sing out claw CAVE_ and landed on a shipwreck, breathing heavily in excitement.

That was a rush.

I remembered how it felt a bit more, this time. Dozens of pairs of eyes, mouths, wings. Being dozens of bats at the same time. Seeing more through sound than through light. It was an utterly alien experience. It was also _awesome_ in its own way. It was difficult to steer or control, but it was simpler when I had a destination in mind, if only in some general way. I wanted to find a ship to rest in, I-as-bats found a ship to rest in.

I experimented a few times. Flash to bats on one side of the ship, reform as Taylor a second later. Screech, screech, screech. Still, it was disorienting. It would be helpful, but not that pleasant.

Gathering my thoughts, I looked around the rusted shipwreck. It wasn't huge, but it seemed familiar. Like I knew this specific ship, somehow. Then I remembered. The _Foam Dancer_ , a fishing boat. It was one of the first ships to get beached here, before there was such a thing as the Ship Graveyard.

Weird how bats-me had picked this one. I guess it just looked comfortable to them. Me. Whatever. I shrugged to myself and found a corner of the cabin that would be shielded from the sun come morning. I'd rather not be woken up by my skin being irritated. I folded my cloak over myself and closed my eyes.

* * *

The sound of the waves was soothing. I rose to my feet, stretched and smiled. Not even a sore muscle. After all the exertions of last night, I expected some soreness. Though considering how I seemed to heal, that's a bit of an odd perspective in retrospect. It probably helped that I had been sleeping in a comfy, comfy bed.

Wait.

What?

I blinked a few times, taking stock of where I was. This time, I was in an opulent bedroom, the walls made of stone. The crackling fireplace in the corner provided a lot of warmth to the room. The bed I had been on was a huge thing, easily four times larger than a king size bed. If one was inclined, they couldn't have a pillow fight here, they could have a pillow war.

That thought gave me a pang. A half-remembered memory of having a pillow fight with Emma when we were ten. Another memory tainted by the last year and a half.

I looked myself over. I was in a soft, silken set of sleepwear. It looked fabulously decadent, and I never would have been able to afford it. Not without winning a lottery. I looked to a wardrobe in the corner, shrugged and went to open it.

Well, someone had good taste, if a bit old-timey. There was various dresses that would fit in a Victorian painting. I liked them, but I felt they wouldn't suit me.

The wardrobe rippled, and suddenly before me was a set of jeans, red t-shirts, boots. And sitting behind those was the entire set of armor I had crafted out of my own blood.

Okay. Freaky dream. Well, it was The Castle in my dream, so I shouldn't be so surprised. Still...why was I coming up with this place? It somehow felt familiar and yet alien.

I slid the sleepwear off, replacing it with the clothing provided. I simply touched my armor, and the substance of it obeyed, flowing over me to form itself on my body. I grinned. No need to mess with straps! My powers were convenient sometimes. If that wasn't just my dream-logic coming up again.

I stepped out of the room, giving only a momentary glance to the golden dragons decorating the bedroom door. I strode down a corridor, much like the first time I'd dreamed about this place, only this one was in better condition. And warm. An open door waited at the end of it. Outside was a peaceful lake, the waves coming in slowly, giving the gentle sloshing I'd first noticed.

It was a dark, beautiful night, the stars twinkling in the sky. I had no trouble seeing, despite everything, but it seemed as if the colors were washed out. I turned to glance back at the way I came.

The Castle loomed. I was just beginning to glimpse just how _large_ the place was. If it wasn't shifting around in dream-logic the whole time, it and its grounds covered the whole of the mountain before me. It was warm where I was standing, but I could see snow at the peak, decorating the very apex of the tower at the top. This wasn't just some castle. It was a medieval metropolis.

Twip-twip-twip-twip-twip-splash.

I looked over to see a figure at the edge of the lake, skipping stones across the water. I shrugged to myself, walking over to her.

She had spiky black hair, a short black tank top and black leather pants on. Combat boots rounded out the attire, and she had necklace with a silver skull on it resting on her chest. She gave me a mischievous smile, tossing another stone out into the lake. "Finally! You took a while to get up and about, you know?"

I blinked. "I did?"

She grinned. "Yep." Emphasizing the P at the end of it. "Three months down. You weren't even stabbed by the Vampire Killer or anything. Well, I guess I can't blame ya. It _was_ your first time, and that's always special. Good to meet you face to face though, Taylor."

I frowned as I searched my memories. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I know you."

She shrugged with good humor. "It's fine. I know everybody. I meet everyone once. Some privileged few, I meet more than that. Not too many, though. I'm actually kind of like you. I've had one actual friendship. Kind of sad, really." She sighed wistfully. "There are people who've fondly told me of their lives as I bring them to where they belong, those who wail and try to bargain with me. Not something I enjoy, but, well, I've got a job to do."

I opened my mouth, then closed it, then got my thoughts in order. "I'm...sorry? I don't understand."

She let out a laugh. It was actually rather pleasant. "Sorry, sorry. I'm having way too much fun with this. I'm called a lot of things. Most of them unpleasant. Depends on where you go. Here's a few favorites, though."

She suddenly shifted form, turning into a skeleton wearing a black robe, hovering above the shore. A sharp scythe spun in the skeleton's hands. "DOES THIS SUIT YOUR EXPECTATIONS?" The voice rang in my head, the skeleton's jaw moving, but there was no actual sound.

The form shifted again, taking on the shape of an older man, still fit and strong, with a short white beard, wearing a black suit, casually smoking a cigar. "This, I usually take among the more stuffy fellows. They don't tend to be very welcoming when I arrive in my more...at ease self."

I swallowed hard. "Death."

He grinned. "Indeed, indeed. You are a bright one, despite the baggage. He chose well." He took a moment to tap his cigar, smoking from it with a smile. "These things will kill you. I should know."

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "You're...not quite what I expected."

Death laughed at that. "Perhaps not. It doesn't truly matter. For me, this is a little past-time. A little hobby while the rest of me is doing what must be done. I'm sorry, but it isn't something I can properly explain. Analogies fall so very short that there's little point."

I nodded slowly. I didn't understand, not really, but I couldn't really argue anyway. "So...are you here for me?"

Death shook his head, grinning. "On the contrary my dear, on the contrary. I am here to welcome you. Since Castlevania herself isn't quite able to just yet. You're only able to visit her in your dreams right now, and that is simply not enough for her to do everything she can." He made a small shrug. "I am afraid that is more my old friend's area of expertise than my own."

"I...thought all this was just a dream."

Death smiled, a gentle, fatherly way. "Far from it. I could explain, but you won't remember all of it. You're not all here, and for you to retain everything, you must be here in flesh as well as in spirit."

I swallowed, hard. "I'm afraid you've completely lost me."

He smirked in amusement. "You'll find out, soon enough. He will make sure of that, one way or another. I believe you have an appointment to keep."

I frowned, trying to keep my voice steady. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He laughed again, but somehow, I didn't feel offended. "Don't worry. You'll see." He snapped his fingers, the lake, the shore, and the castle gates began to fade into crimson mist.

* * *

My eyes snapped open. Light was shining in from the open door of the _Foam Dancer's_ cabin.

It was faint, but I could see it. Fire was rising in Brockton Bay's docks. Even as I watched, another gout of flame roared up.

I concentrated and exploded into bats.

 _Whirling twisting HEAT claw up bite screech seek hunt find attack CRUSH._

I reformed on a rooftop, overlooking the street as warehouses burned. A ten foot tall burning figure chased four others, riding on large creatures. They were desperately trying to stay ahead of him, but their avenues of escape were being cut off by lobbed flames. While the burning figure threw flames at the riders, the four riders were acting increasingly desperately. As the burning figure rose a hand to throw a wave of flame, one of the riders, a man in white, flicked his hand, and the figure's aim suddenly jerked, throwing the flame into a long-defunct shipyard.

Lung.

 _He dares name himself a dragon._

The Shadow Whip flowed into existence on my hand, and I teleported into the air over and behind Lung. I slashed the whip into his back even as I came down, and he staggered with an inhuman roar of rage. My feet landed on the ground, and I exulted in the rush.

He turned, his features distorted as he looked at me. He tilted his head, taking in the boiling appearance of the Shadow Whip on my hand. "Ooo. Rave ting." _You. Brave thing._

I must be insane. This was _Lung._

 _He dares challenge me._

My eyes narrowed, and I charged. He attacked with a wave of flame, and I slid around it frictionlessly over the ground, lashing out with the whip. It carved through scales and flesh easily enough, but even as I drew my hand back for another slash, he was healing.

Still, the whip caused him pain. He jerked with every slash. With a yell, he came at me, throwing punches, the air blistering with intense heat. I wouldn't have been able to withstand it before. Now, it hurt, but it didn't make me back away. I slid around the first punch, flowed backward from the second, and caught the third on the gauntlet of my Shadow Whip. With my left hand, I slammed him in the face, my hand burning with pain. And also, literally burning.

He opened his growing maw and clamped down on my hand, eliciting a scream of pain from me.

So that's what that feels like.

My arm was burning as Lung poured his pyrokinesis into me, feeling the flesh cook inside my armor. I unfurled the Shadow Whip and slammed it against his neck. Once, twice, three times. He let go and staggered back, but my situation hadn't improved much. He was now twelve feet tall and his flames were growing brighter, hotter.

Suddenly, we were blanketed in darkness. I couldn't hear anything, see nothing. I was slammed to the ground, heat washing over me. I teleported twenty feet straight up, then again to a rooftop before I could fall more than a foot.

Darkness washed over the street, blanking out all vision of what was happening below. Lung suddenly leaped out of the darkness, his features more draconic, wings beginning to sprout from his back. He was also larger, claws sprouting from his fingers.

I flowed backward, letting him slam into the rooftop. He struck out with a long arm, and I slashed it with my whip, boiling blood pouring from the wound before it sealed. He lunged toward me, jaws open, fire bellowing from within his mouth. I brought up my hands, the heat washing over me, hatred boiling within my veins. It hurt, the fire flaying my skin. My hunger rose and I growled my displeasure.

 _He shall bow before his betters._

I flashed into existence above him and landed on his shoulders. He turned and twisted, trying to dislodge me, but his form had already grown inhuman enough to make it difficult to reach up and over.

I dug the claws of my shadow-gauntlet into his neck, ripping metallic scales away. Before the wound could seal over, I bit down.

Power. Strength. Hatred. Flame roared through my veins.

My forearms caught fire. Lung's struggling grew more desperate, stronger, the flames around him growing brighter, causing me even greater pain.

I rose my burning hand and slammed it down onto Lung's head with all my strength. The air rippled from the force of the blow. Metallic scales shattered and flew off of him in all directions. Lung staggered under the blow, his flames rippling as he lost concentration. I hit him again. Windows shattered across the street, and he let out a bellow of rage, swaying unsteadily under me.

 _For he shall know._

I roared from deep in my chest and slammed my fist into the side of his head a third time. Partially-regrown scales shattered.

Lung went down, the flames guttering out as he slumped on the rooftop. I flipped off him and landed smoothly, instinctively, as if I'd pulled off the impossible manoeuvre a thousand times before.

 _ **Eu sunt Dracul.**_

I took a moment to look down at my hands, still burning. The flames covered my bracers, making it appear as if they were flaming gauntlets. I opened my fist, and the flames seemed to tip my fingers into claws.

"Such bullshit. Just bullshit."

I turned to see who spoke. The three beasts stood before me, four-legged creatures the size of horses, appearing to be demonic dogs. They were being ridden by three people. One in a white costume, a sceptre in his hand.

The next, a man dressed all in black, a skull painted on his motorcycle helmet frantically waved his hand at the man in white next to him. "Regent, don't piss off the nice lady who punched out Lung. With flaming hands."

The third rider, a girl wearing a dog mask just looked at me, then looked down at my feet. I felt some measure of strange satisfaction at that.

Wait. Three riders? There was a fourth before.

I looked down. I hadn't noticed her there, prostrated in her dark purple costume.

"I pledge to serve you, my dark queen!"

I blinked.

What.

* * *

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Chaos Magic: Control and mastery over hellfire. Others can wield it, but only a few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws.

* * *

First Omake:

Death laughed again, but somehow, I didn't feel offended. "Don't worry. You'll see." He snapped his fingers, the lake, the shore, and the castle gates began to fade into crimson mist.

"Wait, why do you sound like Patrick Stewart?"

Death grinned, his eyes gleaming in some private joke. "I'm looking forward to asking him some of the finer points of Shakespearean theatre. The man can _act!_ "

(Of course, Patrick Stewart voiced Death for the Lords of Shadow continuity.)


	5. Interlude: Tattletale

I looked at the figure before me. She was like something out of a nightmare. Almost everything on her was blood red, her eyes glowing. The wings of her helmet made her appear to be a demon. The skin on her face was burnt, a result of Lung's fire. Yet it was healing, the ugly marks first fading into scar tissue, then lightening, before being reabsorbed into flawless, healthy skin.

 _Rapid regenerative ability. Fire harms, less than it should, quickly fixed. Need to kill in one blow or neutralize healing ability. Not human._

The girl in red was staring at her forearms, covered in fire, yet unlike with Lung's fire, they didn't seem to be burning her.

 _Surprise. Yet calm. First time using power? Yes/No. Both. Not first battle. Took Lung down with brutality. Holding back? Yes/No. Both. Only tapped tiny amount of true power. Still growing. Instinctively staking claim. Destroy rivals. Possible freedom if allied or subordinate to. Fair. Not human._

 _Every movement deliberate. Not breathing. Doesn't need to. Not human._

I scrambled off Brutus as Regent spoke, gaining the figure's attention. She examined the Undersiders in turn, cooly. Not as threats, or as people, simply as if they were furniture. Complete unconcern. The dogs whimpered, not liking being near this girl.

 _No threat to her. Beneath notice otherwise. Only consideration is whether we're worth time. Unconcerned about Bitch's dogs. Capable of dealing with our attack. Brutally take down each of us quickly. Not human._

The repeating bits of information telling me she wasn't human was frightening me.

 _ **Supreme Predator. Supreme Ruler.**_

I dropped to the ground, prostrating myself as terror flowed through me.

 _More dangerous than Coil. Might get me free from Coil. Not human. Using small fraction of potential. Keep on good side. Not human._

I spoke as I felt her gaze on me, the red glow of her eyes assessing. "I pledge to serve you, my dark queen!"

 _Startled. Unexpected move. Used to commanding yet not used to followers? No, no followers previously. Body language shifting, becoming uncertain. Shy. Shy leader? No, automatic instinct. In action, defaults to strong, confident. Social inexperience. Breathing now. Habit? Human. Not human. Unknown._

Grue spoke warily. "T, what are you doing?"

The unknown's eyes lost their glow, and she shifted on her feet. Her burning forearms extinguished, leaving her entirely unharmed. Even without my power, I wouldn't have made the mistake of thinking the new girl harmless, now.

 _Nervous. Scared of us? No. Took her off guard. Expecting confrontation on some level. Not expecting genuflection, despite body language. Former leader? Never led anybody before, but also has? Mixed up body language. Absolutely confident one moment, unsure the next. Emotional mess. Can be helped. Let Lung live. Not sociopath. Not deliberately cruel, but easy to push. Handle with extreme care. Immense possibility._

Risking a look over my shoulder, I paled as I could see that Bitch had noticed as well. Bitch was staring at the girl straight on, now. No longer intimidated. Vying for alpha. Instinctive for her.

 _Not good._

Regent's voice was incredulous. "Isn't it a little fast to give undying devotion to someone, Tattletale?" He caught himself, then added on very quickly and nervously. "Not that you're unworthy of being served, ma'am. Um. Please don't hurt me."

The whole situation had thrown the girl off. I got to my feet, giving the girl in red armor a smile. "Look, you don't have to say yes or no right away. You did us all a favor by taking out Lung. But if we stick around, the heroes are going to show up. I'll try and contact you later. We owe you _big_ , and if serving you is the price, then it's fine by me."

The girl in red made a small nod, a small, hesitant smile on her face.

 _Tongue-tied. Shy. Push wrong and the rage comes. Needs help. Needs support. Not human._

I got back up on Brutus, and the we left, clinging to the backs of the enlarged dogs.


	6. Awakening 1-4

The four teens left, riding those immense beasts. I felt...confused.

Dark queen? Part of me liked that, but the rest of me also felt entirely bewildered. What kind of queen needs to squat in a shipwreck to get a few hours sleep? I knew I had strength, but...really?

I shook my head, looking at my feet. There was Lung, unconscious, slowly reverting back to human form. I looked around, warehouses and buildings burning around me. The fire department was certainly going to be on its way, but they'd have their hands full. And if I just left, sooner or later Lung was going to wake up and walk away.

Part of me toyed with the idea of simply finishing him off. It would be so simple. Just reach down, twist, and tear. It wouldn't even be hard to rip his skull and spine out, once he'd fully reverted. I could even put his skull on a mantlepiece as a trophy to my glory.

Wait. _Skull on a mantlepiece?_ What the hell was I thinking? If I kept going like this, I was going to completely go insane. They'd put a kill order on me in half a second. Lung could take the punishment I dealt out and survive, but if I'd hit almost anyone else like that, they'd have turned into a bloody smear!

Worse, part of me _liked_ that idea.

I began hyperventilating. My powers were fucking with my head. I knew I wasn't doing so well, but I took on _fucking Lung_ without any thought other than...other than...

My breathing stopped. I let the thoughts flow through me. Thoughts that somehow both were and were not my own.

 _I am the dark shadow that chills the hearts of men. I am the rage that mastered the flames of Hell. I am what demons swear to follow, lest they find themselves within my path. I am what the heavens fear to face, lest I rip them asunder. Even the gods themselves fear to face me._

 _ **For I am the Dragon, Dracul. I am the Lord of Darkness.**_

My eyes widened. I turned over the edge of the rooftop and retched. Nothing came up, but I felt sick all the same.

I knew it. I was insane.

Such rage, such hatred boiling in the back of my head. I had no reason to have it at that sheer intensity, but it was there all the same. Was I pissed at my bullies? Yeah, sure. But part of my mind was revelling in the idea of making them suffer in horrifically creative ways that the rest of me was shuddering away from. I was better than this!

Wasn't I?

I retched again.

Long minutes passed as I struggled to get hold of myself. I could see the flash of lights pulling up outside the walls of flame. Brockton Bay's firefighters got to work trying to douse the flames. I could also see PRT teams escorting them. Made sense, the inferno was caused by a cape fight, after all.

I looked down at Lung, now in completely human form once more. The desire to take a trophy was still present, but my disgust with myself was larger. I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. It was easy. Disturbingly easy. I was a foot shorter than he was and had a stick-frame, yet I barely felt the weight. The only awkwardness came from the fact he was so big. It was like carrying a big empty cardboard box.

I concentrated on the distant lights of the fire trucks. I teleported to get nearer, then again, and again, and then again to get past the wall of flame Lung had set to catch the four teens.

I appeared behind the flame, just around the corner from the fire trucks and the PRT teams. The PRT was keeping a lookout, ready to call in support. I took a deep breath and stepped around the corner.

I wasn't noticed at first. I approached slowly, carefully, not wanting to risk a fight. I looked ahead. Armsmaster was there, halberd in hand as he scanned back and forth. There was also another man standing by a fire hydrant. He was wearing what looked like silver scales from head to toe. I didn't like looking at him, something about how the silver reflected light annoyed my eyes. Instead, I focused on the water pouring forth. The hydrant's water moved as expected at first, but then it flowed at the man's directions, coiling around the corner like a snake to run on and douse the flame.

Armsmaster noticed me first, whirling to face me, halberd moving into both hands. He was tense, prepared for anything.

I stopped and set Lung down, placing my foot on his back as I called out. "I have Lung here. He's down. I'm handing him over to you."

He paused for a moment, then nodded. He turned to the man in silver and called. "Neptune, stay on task. I'll handle this."

The other man nodded, his lips tight in concentration.

Armsmaster approached me, putting his halberd on his back. As he got within ten feet, I stepped away from Lung, keeping that distance between us. Armsmaster kept an eye on me as he bent down, pulling some restraints out of his belt and binding Lung's hands behind his back. Then he checked over Lung carefully, calling to me. "You took him down. How?"

My voice was wry. "I hit him."

His lips turned into a frown, a slight current of disbelief in his voice. "You hit him."

I nodded. "I hit him really, really hard."

Armsmaster shook his head. It was hard to see his expression, but I would bet he looked bemused under that helmet of his. He withdrew a dart from his belt and injected Lung.

He must have seen my confusion. "Tranquillizers. Hopefully they'll keep him inactive until we can get him somewhere secure. If there really is such a thing as secure with Lung." He got to his feet, looking at me carefully. He tilted his head, putting one hand to the side of his helmet. Probably listening to someone.

Then he spoke. "Things have been rough, haven't they? I apologize for what happened yesterday."

I swallowed, my hand twitching. He recognized me, despite the armor. Of course. He probably had a gadget for that. Facial recognition, voice sampling. For all I knew he sampled my DNA before and got it off of Lung with something on his fingertips. The man was a Tinker, after all. And everybody knew Tinkers were bullshit.

Pretty sure even Eidolon would say Tinkers were bullshit. And Eidolon's power _was_ bullshit.

He paused again, then spoke. "Will you come in, please? We aren't angry with you. We're worried. Your father is worried. You're treading a dangerous path."

I shuddered, taking a step back. I just kept remembering the darkness, the encasement as they sprayed me with foam. It was too much like the locker _and_ my coffin.

He nodded slowly, reaching to his belt and withdrawing a cell phone. "The number for the PRT is on here. When you are ready, call us. We have a lot to discuss, and..." He paused, putting a hand to his helmet again. "We don't want to make the situation worse." He moved five feet away from Lung and set it down before returning to the unconscious cape.

I kept an eye on him as I went over to retrieve it. I carefully examined the phone, then gave him a small nod. Then I flashed into existence onto a rooftop, stepped out of view of the streets, and burst into a flock of bats.

* * *

I sat upon Captain's Hill, my back resting upon a tree. From here, I could see most of the city. I just watched the sun rise slowly over the water, gradually lightening the city below me. It was windy up here, and it was cool in the early April morning, but it felt peaceful.

I was right. It was beautiful from here. Even if the sunlight hurt.

"What the hell does all this mean?" I muttered, trying to decide what to do. Call, not call? Run away? Go to my dad? Head for Istanbul? Hunt down my bullies? Pick a fight with the Simurgh?

Right now, I just kind of wanted to sit here and slowly fry.

I looked down at my hands. With some effort, I called into existence the flaming claws, covering my hands. I could feel it now. They were formed from hatred and flame. But not just _my_ hatred. What was I, beyond some vampiric parahuman? Worse, while they were out, I could feel my emotions broiling, becoming more and more inclined toward violence.

I dismissed them and breathed, beginning to calm. The sight before me helped, even if a primal part of me was nearly demanding that I find shelter from the sun. In the morning light, I felt more like Just Taylor again.

So much had happened. It felt like I'd been running forever, but it had been just a bit more than a day since I woke up in my coffin. One day.

"It's a heavy burden, I know." A familiar, gentle voice spoke. I scrambled as I whirled around, seeing who spoke.

Death. He was standing there wearing his male form, his black suit immaculate. He came next to me and sat on the grass, and I slowly relaxed, turning to look at the sunrise once more.

I managed a small smile as a funny thought occurred to me. "You're going to mess up your suit."

Death chuckled. "Let me worry about that. It isn't too often I can sit back and enjoy the moment. Besides, there are worse things to worry about than grass stains."

I couldn't help it. I giggled. "It does seem to be a rather small thing to worry about, doesn't it?"

We just watched for a few moments, breathing the clear air.

Death spoke quietly, his voice filled with surprising gentleness. "My old friend, he took up a grand burden because he had to. If he hadn't grasped the power when he had, his world would have been destroyed. He did not particularly want the power, the responsibility he carried. In his world, there had to be one, however. If he did not carry it, someone else would have. Perhaps someone better, but likely someone far worse."

I licked my lips. "The burden?"

Death faintly smiled. "Lord of Darkness. My old friend gained the title after he slew the last. In your terms, he killed the god of a plane, and so he had to take his place. Else the power would flow to another, seeking a worthy vessel. He did not want it, but it was either become it or risk the few things he loved. Despite everything, despite losing everything, even his very humanity, he loved a few things still."

My breath caught. "I have the power of a god? How does one kill a god?"

Death looked amused. "It's difficult, but easier than you might imagine. I'm afraid your world has some odd ideas about gods. Most of them are small things. Gods of revelry, gods of wine and music. Some few are larger. Gods of ideas, of love, of war. Larger still are gods of planes. A heaven, a hell, an entire species. But there are no gods that are on my level. Gods emerge from creation, they may be masters and shapers, but they are not the creators. In time, a very, very long time, mind you, it will be my task to reap creation itself. Including every god that has ever been. And yet, there are things even larger than gods. Still lower than myself, but few things are equal."

He grew pensive, even sad, at that.

I breathed out, shivering. "I'm not sure I believe you."

He rose an eyebrow, looking amused. "Why so? You already know of three gods. Damaged, twisted, enslaved gods, true, but gods nonetheless."

I did? What could he be...

No. Just no. Nononono. He couldn't possibly mean...he bloody well did.

"The Endbringers." I said, dreading the thought.

Death nodded, his face filled with sympathy. "I was supposed to handle them. They were snatched from me at their appointed time, and now they suffer. But unfortunately, despite what many think, in some ways I am quite powerless. I cannot end their suffering, even as they cause so much more." He gestured toward the rising sun. "In five billion, seven hundred forty-nine million, four hundred thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and seventy-six years, an aspect of myself shall harvest your sun. I have no choice in the matter. I cannot come for it sooner, or later, not even by a microsecond. That is, assuming nothing happens to alter the life of your star."

I couldn't fathom it. The being sitting next to me was so very _different_ to me that he might as well be a titan while I was an amoeba. Worse, he was a black hole and I was an atom. Even _that_ analogy falls short.

Smug bastard.

I took long minutes, staring at him. He simply seemed amused, a twinkle in his eye.

Finally, I managed to speak. "How the _hell_ did you and Dracul become friends?"

He blinked, then smiled. "Good. Good. You're grasping more. He gave me the greatest gift I could ever have, my dear. _Perspective._ Before him, I simply acted with no freedom at all." He gestured to himself. "My old friend managed to give me form, substance, in a way I had lacked. It is strange to learn you missed out on so much simply because you never had it. In some ways, the youngest human child has more than I ever did. A simple _choice._ I am limited in my own ways, but thanks to him, in some small ways I can actually do things of my own will."

I breathed slowly as I considered that. I was beginning to understand, in some way. He simply sat there, watching me with his pale eyes.

How weird that the gaze of Death on me was soothing.

Eventually, I spoke, my voice rough. "Why did he give you form?"

Sorrow rose in his eyes. "He was exploring avenues of returning the dead to life. His wife, his beloved, was murdered. Even as a mortal, he had strength and will, enough to bend the planes to his desire, and sought to bring her back. The Lord of Light, however, simply used the situation. He had his reasons, but, the love and grief of a human soul is difficult to reason with."

Death shook his head. "When he became the Lord of Darkness himself, he sought other avenues. Me. It took much to convince him that it was beyond my power. Like most, he misunderstood my role. I end the suffering of spirits and bring them to where they belong. I cannot ferry them to rejoin the living. Even if I wish it."

I took a deep breath, nodding slowly. "If you could, would you bring Mom back?"

Death bowed his head. "I would. She begged me to stay. Begged to not be separated from you and your father. I never enjoy taking a loving parent from a child. She waits for you and him. I do know that she's proud of you, and not for my friend's influence upon you." He paused for a moment, as if listening. "And she is not angry with you about her flute."

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I curled in on myself. I cried, and cried, and cried. I'm not sure how long I did. He gently hugged me, providing warmth, comfort.

It took an eternity, but I finally ran out of tears. Death gently rose my chin, wiping my cheeks. Then he leaned to my ear and whispered something. It wasn't English, or any real language. It was sheer, perfect _knowledge._

He gave a gentle smile and nodded. "Go."

I burst into bats.

The confusion was set aside, shoved aside by the absolutely perfect image in my mind. I could _see_ it. I knew _exactly_ where it is.

I reformed over the bay, turning my body into a dive, splashing into the water. The coolness was soothing, the sunlight attenuated. I didn't care. _Forward._

I dove downward. Not that far, twenty feet. I was holding my breath, but there wasn't any strain. The supernatural lightness of my armor helped, it didn't seem to weigh me down. Or maybe I was just strong enough to not worry about the weight. I swam lower.

 _There._

I thrust my hand into the sand and silt, closed my fingers around it. I swam back up to the surface, then moved to the shore, a silly, triumphant grin on my face.

There in my fingers, I cradled a battered, dented, tarnished, damaged flute.

It was also the most beautiful thing I'd seen in my life.

* * *

A/N: Don't bother looking up Neptune. I came up with him after not enough sleep.

Hydrokinetic, blaster. Wears silver scalemail over more practical modern armor.


	7. Interlude: Investigations

A/N:Hopefully, this isn't too confusing. Hence the date and time these events happen in.

* * *

 _April 4th, 4:04 pm_

Madison Clements had a rather depressing day.

It wasn't any one thing. She simply hadn't had a good day since Taylor had died. When she found out about Sophia and Emma's stunt, her entire world had come crashing down. She put one leaden foot in front of the other as she walked home.

Shame filled her when she thought about what she participated in. She had taken pleasure in ruining Taylor's day. Every day. Stealing her work, ruining her assignments, splashing juice and soda over her clothes and hair, shooting spitballs. Nothing outright painful, that was more Sophia's thing.

Looking back, though, if Taylor hadn't died in that locker, Madison's actions probably would have helped drive her to suicide. Or came to school with a knife or gun or something. Maybe that's why she had the heart attack in there. Fear and despair.

She _knew_ it had been Sophia who did it. Someone else might have, but someone else wasn't focussing on Taylor. It was the three of them. When the three met during the week Winslow was closed for investigation and decontamination, Sophia stared Madison and Emma down.

" _If the cops so much as_ breathe _in my direction, you'll get what Hebert got. And that's after I go through your family. Your mom, your dad, your brothers, your sisters, your fucking cat. I've handled enough that they won't look our way if none of us talk about it. Now all this shit'll go away if you just. Shut. Up."_

She arrived at her front door to see police waiting, quietly talking with her dad. They looked up and straightened.

Her dad stopped her. "We can't go in just yet, Madison. Someone broke in."

Madison's breath hitched. "Broke in?"

Oh god oh god oh god. Sophia was going to _kill_ her.

* * *

 _April 4th, 11:45 pm._

The machine was a plain thing. It had no mind of its own, it did just what it was designed to do.

Twenty years ago, its job needed an entire laboratory of specialists to check and double check the blood types to narrow things down to the mere possibility of one person being the parent of another.

Nowadays, advances in technology made things much easier and simpler. This little device, however, was a bit of Tinker-tech, made up by one computer-oriented Tinker on a bet as to whether his expertise could be used on something like this. It had the ability to take every chromosome in a sample, unravel it, store the information digitally, and compare it to another sample within six hours to complete accuracy.

The reason it took six hours? The Tinker was drunk at the time.

Still, despite its ignoble beginnings, it was useful in certain circumstances. It hummed and whirred in the PRT laboratory, doing its work. It finished, finally printing out on both a sheet of paper and displaying it on a small screen.

 _Sample 1: H, D_

 _Sample 2: H, T_

 _H, T comparison to H, D. Paternal relationship ._

 _Probability of error: 0.000000000143%_

Even Tinker-tech devices were imperfect, however slightly. But if it could feel satisfaction, it would at a job well done.

* * *

 _April 5th, 10:45 am_

"I don't get it. Why the rush job?" Mack muttered to himself as he drove the excavator up the graveyard path. "Why the heck is the Protectorate pushing this through?"

The cop at the grave just waved him forward. Officer Friendly, he wasn't. Other police were taking snapshots. The rest of his dig crew surrounded it, waiting with shovels and equipment.

Mack stopped the machine in place, getting out.

One cop spoke, a big fat one. "Grave looks undisturbed. Not necessarily indicative." He nodded to Mack. "We'd appreciate it if you can dig down to the tomb without damaging the coffin."

Mack grimaced. "We'll have to dig carefully. Four feet down with the excavator to be safe. Two feet with manual tools." He smacked the side of the excavator's treads. "This baby is not exactly precision equipment."

The cop nodded. "All right, let's get on it."

It didn't take that long. Mack deliberately didn't take exact note of time as they worked, it seemed to make the job go faster. He'd just clock out at the end, anyway.

They managed remove the concrete slab at the top of the tomb, then pull the coffin up, setting it on the ground. The police took their time taking pictures before one in hazmat gear had the go-ahead to open it. They didn't want to take risks, a three-month old body could be pretty bad. With trepidation, they opened it.

It was empty. Strangely, even, there was little decay at all. There was evidence of contamination that had entered, mostly worms, but they were long dead, shrivelled.

More worrying was the evidence that someone had punched, kicked, clawed, and tore at the coffin's interior from the inside.

Mack summed it up for everyone. "What the fuck?"

* * *

 _April 5th, 8:36 pm_

Sophia yawned as she struggled to keep looking at the monitor screens. Apparently, the Wards were doing their nice old fun time boring patrols through the city, doing what they tend to do. It was bullshit, in her opinion. More PR than anything else. The Wards really weren't allowed to do much more than call in support unless they were up against one lone mugger. Or Uber and Leet.

She _itched_ to get out there. But nope, apparently schedule snafu happened and she had to play the good girl, sitting around. She wasn't even allowed to have the opportunity to knock out some thugs with tranquillizer bolts.

She _wanted_ to use real bolts, to give them pain, to see their _fear_ , for them to know they were _weak, pitiful prey_ compared to her. But she couldn't risk it. Since she and Emma had tossed Hebert into a locker, she'd been very, very careful not to put a toe out of line. No evidence whatsoever that Shadow Stalker was anything other than a little repentant girl.

It had been hard to throw her old bolts into the bay. She was tempted to stash them somewhere, use them as she wanted to, but anything that might hint at the violation of her probation just might get more questioning eyes on her. It was sheer, blind _luck_ that saved her skin when Hebert croaked.

The whole thing was mostly a demonstration, an attempt to keep Hebert in her place. The ultimate omega of the school. The whole idea was to put her in there, wait a couple hours, then bang on the locker to see if the weakling was still whimpering. Word would get around, a janitor would open it, and all would be demonstrated. When there was silence at the check-in, though, Sophia was concerned. Not for Hebert, nah. Concerned that the whole thing was a bust. That she somehow got out and ruined the whole thing.

So she reached in with her shadow-state and felt the _cold,_ the absolute stillness _._ The little bitch had the audacity to fucking croak. She couldn't take a scare!?

Hebert's backpack was still outside the locker, so she went through it. There were her school supplies, naturally, but what had nearly freaked Sophia out was a notebook, meticulously written down of _damn near everything_ the three of them had done to the weakling. When she leafed through it, Sophia didn't even remember half of them until she had the reminder. She spent a good little while leafing through it.

Then she burned it. It might have been nice to keep for a bit of amusement, but she knew they'd _hang_ her if they found her with a dead girl's notebook full of stuff she did to said girl.

Just as she began to think things would fade away, she got a call on her cell phone the day before the school would reopen.

" _Good day, Miss Hess."_

"And who the fuck are you? How'd you get my number?"

" _How I got your number is unimportant. What is important is my name is Coil, and from this moment forward, you work for me."_

"Why should I do that, hm?"

" _Perhaps because you owe me your freedom. If it were not for my interference, the police would have entered into evidence two notebooks filled with all sorts of juicy details about how a Miss Hess, Miss Clements, and Miss Barnes had been tormenting Miss Hebert for a year and a half. Because of me, however, they were, shall we say, misplaced. Rather important information, considering Miss Hebert died by your actions, Shadow Stalker."_

The bitch had _three_ notebooks? Paranoid little... "What do you want?"

" _For the moment? I want you to stay in place with the Wards. You will be an asset I can tap at my leisure. Don't worry, I am not an unreasonable boss. But from now on, your_ life _belongs to me. Push me, and certain details will become known. Double-cross me, and what you did to Hebert will be a tiny_ sample _of your fate. And here is my first directive to you. If you should see the Undersiders, you will leave them alone. Have a nice day, Miss Hess."_

Sophia would say this for terror. It had a way of reassessing her priorities.

Only good part about the aftermath of all this was a lot of the school staff was suspended. Blackwell, the boring old bitch, was done. Fired. Likely wouldn't ever get her job back. So had a lot of the faculty, while the authorities dug down to see how the review might go.

Part of Sophia suspected that pressure was solely due to the Empire Eighty-Eight presence in the city. If Hebert hadn't been white, they likely would have swept everything under the rug. That's all she deserved, anyway. Weakling little _prey._

She turned as the door opened behind her, returning her mind to the present. In came Armsmaster...with his halberd in hand.

What was going on?

Then came Assault. And Battery. And Dauntless.

Armsmaster was a difficult man to read, most of the time. He could be emotional sometimes, but he was usually either 'I'm a mobile statue' or 'I'm going tear you apart.'

And right now, he looked _pissed._

"Shadow Stalker." He growled. "We need to talk. And you had better have damn good answers for us."

Assault was usually rather humorous, had a devil-may-care attitude. Now? Everything about his body language was saying he would like to see her smeared on the floor. Battery had her arms crossed, glaring at Sophia. Dauntless had his spear in hand.

Sophia knew that spear could throw lightning if he bloody well felt like it. And with all the electronic equipment and wiring in the building, she wasn't going to be able to phase her way out and run.

So she did the sane thing.

She cleared her throat and spoke. "What do you want to know, boss?"

* * *

 _April 6th, 9:45 am_

Danny Hebert blearily opened his eyes as Miss Militia put down a cup of coffee in front of him. Part of him resented her, despite being awake all night, she looked just fine.

"Don't you ever sleep?" He asked, taking a sip anyway. He'd had about five hours himself.

She shrugged. "I don't sleep. Not since I got my power. It gets lonely, sometimes."

She must have seen his confusion, her eyes crinkling up in a hidden smile behind her scarf. "Oftentimes I'm the only one awake in the middle of the night at The Rig. Everyone else on patrol or asleep. It gives me time to catch up on the paperwork, but it's difficult sometimes."

He nodded at that. "I think I can get that." Danny took a few, long moments to breathe. The sheer stress of the last few days was...tiring.

How does one react to their daughter coming back from the dead, however changed? He had a second chance, and he'd blown it. Instinctive fear caught him when he should have embraced her, calmed her.

Red eyes or not, Taylor was still his daughter.

Miss Militia looked at him intently. "She'll come around. From what I'm told, she's scared, Danny. Scared kids do dumb things."

He nodded. "Yeah, but she shouldn't _have_ to be scared. We're in this whole thing because she _was_ scared of hurting me." Danny took a minute to calm himself, staring at the half-empty cup in his hands. "My wife, Annette...I took it hard when she died. Taylor did, too, but...I never knew that things out of the house went so badly for her, too. Then she died and..."

And the house stood empty for three, long, horrible months. The first two weeks, he hadn't left the house, with the exception of the funeral.

And that had nearly killed him, right there. He barely ate, barely slept. When she came back, it was a fairy-tale dream combined with a horrible, horrible nightmare. He'd had dreams before, where both of them were there. Waking up again was more than he could stand. On those days, he barely got out of bed. He would have preferred it if he had died.

Then to have one night where the dream wasn't a dream...only for her to run away? He'd hit his lowest point. He felt...odd. Like his awareness wasn't all here.

Miss Militia's phone rang, and she answered. "Miss Militia. What? Really? How long?" She looked at him, her eyes crinkling. "Good. Thank you, Johnny."

She hung up, pulling him to his feet. "If I'm not mistaken, Danny, we're about to have company."

He straightened himself with some effort. "What do you mean?"

She laughed gently, a pleasant, harmonious sound. "Just go to the door."

He drained the last of the coffee and went, his mind whirling. Just as he got to it, there was an ungodly sound, dozens of screeches, wings clawing through the air, then silence. And then, a knock.

Carefully, he opened it. His breath caught.

There she was, Taylor, standing there in red armor, helmet in one hand, clutching a tarnished flute in the other. Her face was stained with tears, and she stood there frozen. Her features were filled with a mixture of emotions. Hope, fear, a horrible desperate want.

Danny simply pulled his daughter inside and hugged her.

Miss Militia stood in the kitchen, her eyes crinkling as she smiled beneath her scarf. She let the pair gather themselves while she went to the fridge to make a proper breakfast.


	8. Reclamation 2-1

Well. This was awkward.

I sat at the kitchen table, my dad at my side, while Miss Militia sat across from us. Before us was a breakfast of scrambled eggs. They smelled good, and the way my dad was eating, they obviously tasted good, too.

Miss Militia didn't have any herself, as she kept her American flag scarf on. I did see she looked somewhat envious, though.

I took a sampling of my own, but as the turkey sandwich did before, it didn't do anything for my appetite. I felt as exactly as hungry as I did before.

She noticed. "Not hungry, Taylor?"

I gave an embarrassed smile. "It's good, it just doesn't do anything for me. I...found some things out about myself last night. I'll explain in a bit." I tilted my head. "So...not that I mind, but what are you doing here?"

Miss Militia chuckled. "After you ran off, I was tasked with making contact. I was pretty sure that you'd come home sooner or later. If I was wrong, no harm done." She gestured to Danny, who was on his second cup of coffee, looking a bit more awake. "Your dad needed some moral support, anyway."

I bowed my head, wincing at the thought of what I'd put him through, meaning to or not. He gently squeezed my hand, and I gave him a weak smile.

Miss Militia looked over me with interest. "I'm kind of surprised. You managed to get someone to make you a suit with such little time and resources. Good quality, too. A bit scary, though. Where'd you get someone to make that red metal?"

I felt my face heat up as I blushed. "I...uh, I made it. One of my powers lets me manipulate my...um...blood."

Dad and Miss Militia stopped. Blinked. "Manipulate...blood." Dad said. "Your armor is made out of your own blood."

I nodded slowly.

Miss Militia stared at me intently, then she blinked and shrugged. "Well, there has been weirder things. You know of Narwhal? She fights in the nude. Her suit is made entirely up of her forcefields."

I let out a laugh, grinning, my mood lightening. "You're kidding."

Her eyes crinkled, her expression full of humor. "Not in the least."

I nodded, giggling to myself at the thought. "Well, I feel a little better now, at least."

Dad squeezed my hand again, and my tension slowly relaxed.

Miss Militia chimed in then. "We've been looking for you all over the city. Ever since you gave us the slip in the PRT building." She held up her hand as I opened my mouth. "It's all right, we don't blame you. Armsmaster's taken worse injuries while training, and he's fine now. You ever hear of trigger events?"

Both dad and I shook our heads.

She nodded. "It's not talked about too often. They hit us on the worst moments of our lives. Often, life or death situations, but not always. Every parahuman has one, and they tend to be a bit easier for second-generation parahumans, but they're never _easy._ You get superpowers, but you're also trapped with an emotional strain that can take time to get past. If we ever do. Considering your experience, you effectively had yours two days ago. And because they're so traumatic, there's a certain amount of allowances given when there's damage or injury occurred because of a trigger event."

I nodded at that. It made sense.

Dad's voice was filled with horror. "So _every_ one of the heroes went through something like what Taylor did?"

Miss Militia nodded. "Mine happened when I was a little girl. The others...bad things happened at various points in their lives. We don't tend to pry, the moments are touchy subjects. Yours, Taylor, is really, really horrid, I assume it was in the locker?" She paused a moment, and I nodded in response. She looked at me, her gaze considering, then shook her head. "If you want, we can talk about it in private, later."

I shuddered, and nodded, my voice quiet. "Thank you."

Dad spoke quietly then. "So what are our options?"

She hesitated for a moment, then said. "That's complicated. The PRT is certainly going to want you to join the Wards, at least eventually. If you were anybody else, I'd agree. However, there are issues we need to get out of the way."

I blinked. "What issues?"

Miss Militia sighed. "Legal, moral, and a number of others. Unfortunately, I can't say too much. Do you have a lawyer on retainer?"

Dad shook his head. "Could never afford one."

She nodded. "Get one. The PRT is going to bring up a few non-disclosure agreements. They're going to want to hammer things out concerning you. The first deal they offer probably wouldn't be in your best interests in the long run. Have someone who knows the law back you up. Beyond that...I can't imagine how trying the last few days have been, by your perspective. I'd consider therapy. The Protectorate has some good ones on call, but they'll likely want you to sign up first. I'd suggest seeing if you can wrangle something."

I cleared my throat and spoke then. "Um...there's another problem, as well." I gently pushed a bit of scrambled egg around on my plate. "My powers seem to make me...well, vampiric. I need blood. I found out I did by accident, but if circumstances had been different, I might have killed somebody."

"You might have done _what_?" Dad exclaimed.

"Dad! It's fine, it's fine! They were gang members. I called for help. They were taken to the hospital."

"Ah." Miss Militia said, considering things for a long moment. "I heard something of that. Well, we can run a few tests. Yours wouldn't be the first unusual diet a parahuman needs. There's a kid up in Boston, Weld. He's made of metal and eats it. He has to be careful not to touch anything metal, or he risks it becoming part of him."

"I think my situation is a bit more problematic. He might damage cars by accident. I'm afraid of eating people." I said wryly.

Dad winced.

She chuckled at that. "It's good you are. I'd be worried if you weren't concerned about hurting someone else. Offhand, though, I think we can figure something out. Expired donated blood, perhaps? They just dispose of it as a biohazard, anyway."

I blinked. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"Anyway," Miss Militia continued. "What I would want you to consider, before saying yes or no to the Wards, or the Protectorate, when you're older, is to get your head on straight and get your civilian life in order. We're aware of you now, we'll help protect you. But until you're in a good place, emotionally, it would likely be best to take it easy. You seem to be versatile, and anyone would love to have you. But when _you're_ ready, and not before. Mind you, this is my advice, and not the PRT or the Protectorate's. They might want to throw you into an Endbringer fight..."

Dad tensed, and I very gently squeezed his hand in response, worried about my own strength.

"...but you're not ready for it. Such things are horribly dangerous, and someone who isn't focussed on the task there and then might cause more harm than good."

Dad frowned. "Sounds like you're speaking from experience, here."

She visibly winced, despite the scarf. "I can't say just yet. I will tell you what I can if and when I have the go-ahead, but it's not my place for now."

I nodded slowly, then I blinked. "What did you mean, 'seem to be versatile'?"

Her eyes crinkled up. "We've been having weird reports of bat activity since you reappeared. Bats do nest in Brockton Bay, but not too many of them fly around during the day. That, and some of them coincided with sightings of you, well...it wasn't that difficult to guess. That's how I knew you were coming. There was a sighting of a cluster of bats heading this way. I suspected it was you in your Breaker state." She tilted her head. "Or maybe Changer state. Your powers are a bit weird."

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Guess I need to be smarter. I'll..." I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts. "I don't want to come into the PRT building. At least...not by the front door. After everything, small spaces remind me of the locker...and the coffin. Being sprayed with that stuff in the front entrance put me right back there. Could we arrange something so we can meet with a representative somewhere neutral?"

She made a small laugh. "I think we can."

* * *

So here I am, in the back of a PRT van. Miss Militia driving, my dad beside me. Heading to Brockton Bay General, sheet of paper in hand with a request to take old blood packs off their hands for a small fee. Buying old blood. Who would have thought it?

Apparently, the Protectorate is able to make an official print out for just about any request imaginable and still make it look nice, official and important-looking. Just a bit weird, but, well, I woke up as a vampire, so what the hell?

I knew I wasn't a typical parahuman. If it weren't for Death and the dreams of The Castle, I wouldn't have guessed, but it was easier to just keep the idea going for now. There's parahumans out there for just about anything. Legend could heal himself just by turning into energy for a second and back again. A parahuman with a vampire theme going? Sure, why not? Myrrdin had his wizard thing going. They'd probably humor me as long as I was more helpful than harmful. Then they might break out the stakes and holy water.

Now I'm wondering if those actually would work on me. I need to test that.

As we arrived, I picked up my helmet. Dad moved to get up, but Miss Militia called to him. "Please, Mister Hebert. We need to go in ourselves. Unless you can mask up, you might risk Taylor's identity. It might be shot already, but we should at least try. We're just going to go in, hand in the paperwork, and be back out before you know it."

She then looked to me. "Have you picked a name to give to the staff? They'll have to fill it in."

I nodded, a smile on my face. "Yeah. Crimson."

They both froze. Dad was looking at me in horror, while Miss Militia's eyes were wide.

"What?"

Dad was gaping like a fish. What did I say?

Miss Militia shook herself. "Crimson was one of the Slaughterhouse Nine. He's dead, thankfully, but..."

Oh. Oh. _Oh._ No. Nonono. _Hell_ no. There go all my noes, heading right out the door to toss themselves into the ocean.

 _They are beneath me._

Shut up, Dracul.

I deflated. "I forgot. I'd just been through so much and a lot of my powers were about blood and...that's all I got?"

They both began to relax. Dad hugged me. "Had me worried for a minute, kiddo."

I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "Sorry, dad."

Miss Militia coughed, looking a bit embarrassed. Odd how expressive the top half of someone's face could be. "Well, we need something _._ " She sounded teasing as she finished. "Unless you'd like to be known as 'Hey You.'"

I thought over it. I mulled. I...ran out of words to describe thinking. Ah ha! Thinking!

Stop delaying, Taylor! They're staring at you! "Um..." I looked at my helmet. Knowing what I knew now about the...whatever I got from Dracul, the dragon motif made sense. It formed without me considering it. I hadn't even thought of why it was a dragon at the time.

How much of him was in me, anyway?

Too bad 'Dragon' was already taken. Some part of the back of my mind bristled at that. Even as the rest of me would squee on meeting Dragon.

They're still looking at you! Come up with something fast!

"Scarlet. Scarlet Knight."

Miss Militia nodded, then. "It'll do."

Phew.

...well, that's not too bad.


	9. Reclamation 2-2

So in I went with Miss Militia into the hospital. We got a few looks, but nobody accosted us. Miss Militia was recognized easily enough, and in my armor, nobody would mistake me for an ordinary walk-in patient. I drew some interested looks, though.

I guess even in Brockton Bay, a new cape sighting was unusual. It didn't happen every day. Just...on a fairly regular basis.

We came up to the reception, and the woman behind the counter did a double-take as she took us in.

Miss Militia spoke, handing the official-looking sheet over. "This is Scarlet Knight. We're here to requisition some blood packs. Expired ones are fine, though fresh would be preferred." She looked to me. "Do we need any right now?"

I shook my head. I was somewhat hungry, but it was at about the level where I felt like snacking. I could deal. "Umm...Until tomorrow, I'm good, at least."

Miss Militia nodded, turning back to the receptionist. "They're to be made available on Scarlet Knight's request."

I gave a little wave, a smile on my face, my face flushed in embarrassment. Stupid shyness. And stupid me for not having checked 'Crimson' earlier. Well, it'll have to do. Scarlet Knight is dorky, sure, but I could live with it.

And almost anything else I could come up with would make people run away, screaming, anyway.

The receptionist gave me a little smile. "We'll set things up for you. Does it matter what kind of blood?"

I shook my head in return. Stupid voice.

A voice caught my attention. "Miss Militia? Is everything all right?"

Miss Militia made a small laugh. "Everything's fine, Panacea. Just helping Scarlet Knight here get settled in."

Panacea.

THE Panacea. Most renowned healing parahuman around the world.

I gave another little wave. "Hi."

Oh my god, my voice squeaked.

She looked faintly amused, however tired she looked. "Medical issue? Maybe I can help."

I raised an eyebrow, feeling uncomfortable. She looked nearly dead on her feet. "No, no. We're actually here to get things handled, hopefully. You alright?"

"Just need some food. And sleep." She said.

Okay. Long day. I get that. I guess even the famous parahumans have them now and again.

I looked to Miss Militia. She looked back at me. I shrugged. "I appreciate it, but I think things are okay."

I squeaked again. Dammit.

And Miss Militia's eyes crinkled in amusement. Fun!

She gave a tired smile, heading out the doors. Another figure came to meet her, a girl all in white. Then they shot off into the sky.

Huh. Glory Girl. I am geeking out a lot today.

I looked to Miss Militia. She was watching me intently, her eyes deep with thought. "Um...can we go?"

That seemed to break her out of her reverie. "Right, we should."

Miss Militia and I left, returning to the van where my father waited. He let out a sigh as he saw us.

"That was more than a few minutes." He groused.

I flushed with embarrassment. "We ran into Panacea, dad. Sorry."

Dad nodded. "Things going to be okay until tonight?"

Miss Militia looked at me. I nodded.

"All right." She said. "Let me get you two home."

The drive back was quiet. I spent some time trying to gather myself, calm myself. If I was going to be running around as I am, I needed to stop bouncing on the inside like a five year old.

But ohmygod! New Wave!

* * *

We arrived back home, and we stepped out of the van. I gave my dad a small smile. "Um...can I stay with Miss Militia a bit? I just need to talk, and...I'll come back before dark dad. I promise."

He opened his mouth, thought better of it, then nodded. He headed inside, looking a bit unsure.

Can't blame him. I felt unsure, too. There's not too many ways to deal with 'person comes back from the dead.'

Miss Militia started up the van again, putting it in gear. We pulled away from the house, and I let out a sigh. "This is so weird, you know. Part of me is geeking out. I went dressed as you one Halloween."

She let out a laugh. "I do seem to be pretty popular with the younger crowd. I suppose it helps my look's simple. It's a bit harder to pull off Armsmaster on a budget."

I smiled, nodding. It was a bittersweet memory of happier times, now. Mom was still around.

" _I do know that she's proud of you, and not for my friend's influence upon you."_ Death had said that, and I believed it. Still, the memory was a good one.

I cleared my throat. "You were talking about trigger events, back in the house. It's...good to know I'm not alone when it comes to them. Still, it was horrid, though." Maybe not quite true, considering...but what I'd experienced was close enough.

Miss Militia pulled into a parking lot. "Do you remember the moment?" She asked.

I swallowed. It was hard to think of it, considering the sheer panic and terror I was experiencing at that moment. It felt fresh, still, amplified, even. The open parking lot around us helped. Knowing I had _power_ now helped, too. I wasn't helpless now. Though the memory was still fresh enough.

"I was banging on the back of the locker, trying to push against the locker door with my back. I couldn't move, could barely breathe...garbage and insects all over me. I heard them laughing as they walked away. I kept struggling...I don't know how long. I was sure I was going to die in there." I made a wan smile. "I suppose I did. Then, though...I saw something. Immense... _things_. They were titanic, shedding something off themselves. They looked like shooting stars."

Miss Militia looked sharply at me.

Odd. Thinking on the image now, I felt...icy, empty rage. Not the searing kind that makes someone flail in anger. The kind of cold rage that's all the worse because it's calculated, the kind of rage that can drive a man to spend twenty years to see the object of his attention utterly decimated.

My hands felt cold.

I took a moment to breathe. "Then my world was...rage and hatred. It hurt, but didn't at the same time. I think I had dreams." Easier than saying I wandered in some vampire castle I couldn't show her. My voice thickened. "Then I awoke in my coffin."

She spent a long minute staring at me, then she spoke quietly. "I had mine as a child. Guerrillas took my village. They...killed the adults. Took the children, and had us walk into the forest, leading them through. The forest had mines. There was a moment when I knew, just _knew,_ if I took another step I would die. And yet if I did not, the man behind me would shoot me. And then I saw them. _Things_ I cannot describe in detail, for while I remember clearly, I don't have the words. A piece of them touched me, and then I was in the forest once more." A pistol suddenly appeared in her hand, in a flash of green energy. "I used my gift to kill the man pushing me forward, then to free those of us left. But there were so few."

She took a moment to gather herself. "I have spent a very long time, since then, learning. I came here to build a new life, and in that time, I have met many parahumans." She looked me straight in the eye. "And you are the first I have ever met to remember the _moment_ as I do. All others speak of being helpless one moment and empowered the next. But not the titans."

My mouth was dry. "Any idea what the hell they are?"

Miss Militia shook her head. "No. Only they felt... _alien_ in some way. Something that simply does not belong." She gently took my armored hand and squeezed it. I didn't feel it, though I appreciated the gesture. "Know this now. You are not alone. Not anymore. Your burden is shared."

I nodded and swallowed. "Thank you."

Her eyes crinkled, and she started the van, bringing me back home.

* * *

Castlevania again. It was nice to have a name other than The Castle.

Though I'll probably keep calling it The Castle just because for a while.

Much as some part of me liked the feel of this place, I was getting annoyed with being here every time I fell asleep.

I was in a large chamber, water rushed down from above, flowing in waterfalls, joining together and merging into a river that rushed down the sides of the corridor. It looked like a natural cave that someone had built into. It was cold, but somehow welcoming.

The cold...

I looked at my hand, closing my eyes and summoning that icy, deadly clarity I felt when remembering the image with Miss Militia. When I reopened them, there was a cloud of cold mist billowing from my fingers, moving down the corridor as if showing me a way.

I followed it, mentally conjuring the armor I crafted out of my blood, feeling somewhat more reassured with it around me. I followed the path of flowing water, my breath still, hearing slight whispers in the air.

 _Free us._

 _Know us._

 _Take us._

 _Become his heir._

 _Surpass him._

 _Avenge us._

 _Avenge him._

I reached an ornately crafted door, frozen over with ice, the now-familiar golden dragons reminding me of just whose castle this was.

Like I needed the reminder.

I clenched my hands, pulling the hatred from the back of my mind. The fiery, deadly hatred. My hands burst into flames, and I smashed the door. The ice heated up, splintering, then exploding outward. Shards of it hit me, but it barely hurt, most of it melted by the flame coming from my claws.

I wrenched my hands into the gap between the doors and pushed them open, taking a good look around. This place was a gigantic cavern of ice, the walls and floor ornately decorated. Icicles hung from the ceiling, some of them massive enough to reach the floor and form pillars. Gold, jewels, all strewn about as if worthless. In the centre of the room was an immense ice sculpture, carved in the form of a massive man. I could see something glistening and shining blue within his chest, but the refraction of the light through him made it difficult to identify. The thing was at least thirty feet tall.

I extinguished my burning claws, coming closer to examine him. The detail was astounding. I could see every fold of his simple clothing, care taken to replicate in ice the repeating textures of ancient cloth.

I looked up at his face.

He was looking back. I blinked.

His features twisted in rage.

 _ **Imposter. False heir. I serve only the Dragon.**_

An icy fist rose up, and I dived to the side as he slammed it into the ground, where I had been a moment before.

What the hell? The Castle was trying to kill me, now?

 _Rip out his tendrils._

 _Defeat him._

 _Succeed him._

 _Surpass him._

 _Free us._

No, not the Castle. The damned security system.

I flowed around the now-mobile sculpture's feet. If I hadn't been in the middle of a fight, I'd have marvelled at how _easy_ it was to move. When I wanted to dodge, I didn't have to roll or dive, I just floated and flowed in that direction.

A massive hand made of ice came down my way, and I lacked room to dodge. So I teleported behind him, summoning my flames. The rush of hatred when I brought them out was getting easier to handle.

Though, still not exactly easy. I wanted to run up and bite this thing's face off. Bad idea, when he's made out of ice.

In an instinctive move, I hit it in the knee with an uppercut. It stumbled, letting out a wail, then it turned and grabbed a ten foot long icicle, wrenching it out of the ceiling and trying to smash me with it.

I slid around it, grinning as I felt the flames in my hands responding to my will. I started throwing slashes, my claws cutting deep into the thing's legs. One after another, flowing around the icy thing's attempts to counter me. I didn't intend to hit anything vital, but then, I didn't have to. Any place a slash landed melted big chunks of my opponent away, and even me approaching it made it shy.

It began melting somewhat, its features losing definition. Near its chest, though, the ice began to fill in, regenerate. I could see the blue object within gleaming, pulsing as if it were a heart.

Well, never let it be said I couldn't take a hint.

It lifted a foot to try and squish me underneath it. I dodged out from underfoot...only for the shockwave of the impact push me off my feet.

With a triumphant look in its face, the sculpture rose its foot again.

I teleported straight up, right in front of its chest, and hit it hard even as I began to fall. It lost its balance, falling to the floor with a ground-shuddering rumble. I touched the ground rather lightly.

Teach you to be smug, jerk.

While it put its hands on the floor, presumably to rise to his feet, I jumped up and landed on its chest. It had just enough time to look horrified before I brought my fist down. With its weight on the floor, all the energy of the hit went into it, and the creature cracked.

I put my burning hand onto the icy surface, clawing my way into its interior. I wrapped my fingers around the blue object and pulled.

With a strange rasp, it pulled away, and the mobile ice sculpture disintegrated. I looked down at the thing I'd liberated.

It was a sword, long and shining with a strange sheen. It wasn't metal, it was energy, as if somehow a shard of interstellar space was in my hand. At least four feet long, but it was as light as a feather. Cold radiated off of it, and I could feel it connecting with me, somehow. The life-stealer, cold with the forgotten and tormented souls of the void. Including that of its original forger.

 _The Void Sword._ I knew its name as much as any part of myself.

I grinned to myself. I could feel it connecting with me, becoming part of me. With a thought, it vanished, and I _knew_ I could call it back in an instant.

A small whisper echoed in the chamber.

 _We welcome you, Heiress of the Dragon._

I looked to the door, and paused.

There was an immense white wolf staring back at me. It was just sitting there, impassive, its yellow eyes seeming to search.

Then it nodded, turned immaterial, and ran through the door.

Okay then.

...

It's cold in here.

* * *

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill.


	10. Interlude: Hannah, Amy, Alan, Madison

A/N: Quick interlude

Hannah rubbed her eyes, taking her mind off the paperwork before her, considering what had happened earlier that evening.

Someone else who remembered the titans.

Someone else who _knew_ something of those things.

Mind you, that didn't mean much on its own. Comparing the notes, however briefly, didn't give her much information. Save one.

Those things were doing things to people, to give them powers. Then promptly and immediately hiding the fact they'd done so.

 _Why?_

That thought kept her pace slow as she slogged through the paperwork. What made Taylor different enough to remember? Something about how her powers worked?

However those worked. It seemed as if her power was giving her the set for a vampire. Rising from the dead, drinking blood, turning into bats. But where did the teleporting come in?

And where, exactly, did she get the strength to _punch out Lung?_ She's avoided mentioning that to Danny Hebert, but it was still worrying.

A tap came from her doorway. She looked up, her eyes crinkling.

Neptune stood there, looking curious. One of the newest capes, he worked exclusively with emergency services, usually with the fire department.

"Don't worry, I'm all right, I'm a little distracted."

He signed carefully, slowly. He was still learning sign language. Hannah learned it pretty quickly. It helped them communicate. He had to use a text-to-speech app for most other people.

 _Much trouble. Third kidnapping. No ransom. Asian block._

She nodded. "ABB working. Anything to follow on?"

 _Not much help. Need._ He paused, searching for the right signs. _Truth-seekers. Can't do._

Hannah sighed. "And you don't like feeling useless. Anything come back, John?"

He tapped the side of his head. _No. Nothing past two months._

"I'm sure we'll find something. Give it time."

He looked unsure, and shook his hand back and forth. _Doubt it._

* * *

"So..." Vicky said with an air of blatantly-false casualness, "Who was that with Miss M?"

"A new cape," Amy replied. Mid-flight conversations like this were good. They helped distract her from the damned feelings she got when Vicky was holding her so...closely, "Or at least one I'd never heard of. Scarlet Knight."

"And...?"

"And what, Vicky?"

"Is he cute?"

"W-what?" Amy would've whirled around if it didn't mean squirming out of her sister's iron grip. And falling to her death. The latter more than the former.

"C'mon. Don't tell me you didn't use your power to peek under that armor. Which screamed edgy badass, by the way."

"I didn't use my power at all! And Scarlet Knight is a girl," Amy sputtered, quickly thinking back for any indicative pronoun-use from Miss Militia. Finding none, she added, "I mean...I'm pretty sure she's a girl."

"You're only _pretty_ sure?"

"There was a bit of a weird reverb in her voice. I think her armor was some kind of tinkertech. But I'm still pretty sure she's a she."

"It wasn't the hair, was it? Guys can have hair that nice, too. It'd fit with the 'sexy vampire' thing he had going on."

"Okay, Scarlet Knight is still probably a girl, but you are not going to refer to her as a 'sexy vampire' if anyone asks about her."

"Geez, fine...hey, are you okay? You look like shit."

"Gee. Thanks," Amy grumbled, but she was starting to tense up. She knew what Vicky meant, and she knew that Vicky knew-

"You know what I mean, Ames." _Shit. Please not this. Not right now._

"It's...I'm just tired. I'll feel better after some sleep."

"...alright," Vicky sounded like she thought it was anything but 'alright,' but to Amy's relief she seemed to drop the issue. They flew in silence for a few minutes.

"So..." Vicky began with that insufferable tone again, "If he...oh, don't make that face. If 'she' wasn't there to get patched up, why go to the hospital at all?"

"She was there to get some packs of...blood," Amy only fully realized what she'd said once it was too late to stop, "Vicky, don't you dare-"

"-set you up on a double-date with the sexy vampire boy? That's a great idea, Ames!"

* * *

A knock on a door.

The door opening.

"Alan Barnes? I'm Agent Jansen of the FBI, this is Agent MacGregor. We need to speak with you and your daughter."

Alan Barnes paled.

* * *

Madison stood still. From the outside, she would have seemed stoic. It was a simple facade.

"You are aware of the penalty for perjury, Miss Clements? If you're making a false statement, there can be very serious consequences here. The police department is not a service you can use to resolve petty grudges."

She nodded. "I'm aware."

The cop nodded. He was a tall man, balding, and professional. He set her sworn statement into a folder. "We'll do what we can for you and your family, Miss Clements. I'll assign protective detail until we can get word on this Sophia Hess."

Madison nodded, managing a weak smile. "Thank you, officer."

He smiled gently. "Austin. Jake Austin."

She went to sit down while he made some calls, her breath shuddering.

Her mind wandered. Focussed, then wandered again.

 _Please._ She whispered in her heart. _Let me not be afraid anymore. Let me do the right thing once. Let me fix my mistake. I can't change what I did, but let me do better for everyone else._

She straightened. Light filled her. Cold, strong, emotionless light. Light with reason _._ Light with _purpose._

 _It_ filled her vision. She knew it. She knew how to make it.

Madison's mouth was dry. She needed to _build_ it. She needed to _forge_ it. She needed iron and silver.

For the first link in the chain.


	11. Reclamation 2-3

Well. Apparently Dracul left some things going on automatic in his castle, because he'd made it difficult to safely get at some of his things when he went on vacation. Or whatever the heck happened to him.

The thought scared me a bit. Dracul apparently had immense power. The rapid number of gains I'd made since I woke up in my grave seemed to indicate that, but _something_ had happened to force him to give up his power. Or he was killed and it went to me, for some reason or another. So what could do that to him?

" _How does one kill a god?"_ I had asked Death.

" _It's difficult, but easier than you might imagine."_

A reminder to myself. As strong as I might become, the right circumstances could kill me. I needed to be aware. I needed knowledge. And I couldn't rely on only what my powers were giving me. I knew I had a number of strengths, but I needed to see where my weaknesses were. And if possible, find a way to counter them.

Lacking better options, I went to see if I could follow that wolf. I also took my sweet time about it. Death had said I was here in spirit, but I didn't want to know what would happen if I got myself killed in my dreaming-not-dreaming state. I seemed to carry over my actual strengths, and they translated to reality easily enough.

Soon as I woke up, I'd see if I could summon the Void Sword. I'm...not actually sure what it'd mean if I could, but until I know for sure, assume dreaming-me is exactly as regular-me. That seems to be how it's been since I came back.

I lost the wolf's trail. Apparently, despite being a vampire, I did _not_ become a tracking expert overnight. Good to know. Probably doesn't help that it turned immaterial. How does one track something that doesn't have any substance?

Still, the corridors twisted around until I reached a landing. The air was chilly, whipping through the halls in a powerful breeze. It slowed me down as I moved.

Eventually, I came outside. I was near the apex of the castle, a set of stairs going upward to the tower at the top. The view from here was spectacular. I felt like a queen of the world. I could see...darkness and shadow out around everywhere, surrounding the castle, but it somehow had form, substance. It wasn't the lack of light, it had form of its own.

I looked up at the tower. I knew that up there was the throne room, and somehow, answers would be there. When I moved to the base of the stairs, though, I couldn't move any further. There wasn't a wall or anything preventing me, but I simply would not move forward. I even tried teleporting up onto the stairs, but that just plunked me right where I was already standing.

Well fine. I don't want to go up your stupid stairs anyway.

...

Reverse psychology doesn't work either.

Well then. I turned around. And stopped.

There's another set of doors. Either I didn't notice when I came up here, or Castlevania's shifting around me. Or both.

There seemed to be a faint, feminine giggle in my mind. Playing with me. Okay. Fine. Whatever. The Castle didn't seem to be malicious, at least toward me. I began to wonder if I wanted it, I'd find a room completely full of cotton candy.

That wasn't a request, by the way!

I waited a moment, listening for a response. Then I shrugged and headed through the new set of doors.

Ah. This was familiar. The hallway, that first hallway where I thought I would freeze to death. That first dream of Castlevania. I followed the hall, reaching the baths that I thought would be my refuge.

I pulled the doors open, and I breathed in as the crimson mist boiled out. I looked to see the bath filled with blood. It was...alluring, in a way that would have horrified me such a short time ago. I moved forward, taking a sample from the bath with my finger and licked it.

It was warm, welcoming, but I knew in an instant that even if I were here in flesh, it wouldn't sustain me. It was already part of me, in some way, and thus even if I managed to take in every drop it wouldn't help my hunger. It would, however, feel really good. To bathe in this blood would be to bask in my own power.

I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I was tempted to head in, really tempted, but I didn't want to indulge myself just now. I had something more important in mind. I needed to find a way to get here in the real world, not just in my dreams.

So I turned, walked out of the bath, and retraced my steps from where I remembered my first moment here in Castlevania. The corridor was filling with mist the further forward I went, and I felt a sense of foreboding as I went into it.

Then...no. Nonono. Not here. Anywhere but here.

I turned around, dreading what I would see. I knew what it would be.

It was my locker, filled with filth, crawling with insects, and the horrid stench of it filled the entire hall.

The school shattered around me, and I woke up screaming.

Dad came barrelling into my room, and he hugged me. "Taylor, Taylor! It's okay, it's okay!"

I clung to him and cried.

* * *

"I'm sorry I woke you." I murmured as dad made his breakfast. He looked terrible, still. He'd been eating a bit more, but he was still thin. It would take months to restore him to something like the father I knew.

He gave me a gentle smile as he sat down next to me with his toast and orange juice. "It's all right, Taylor." He put his arm around my shoulder. "You've been through hell. Frankly, I'm glad. You waking me up? Means I've got my daughter back."

I leaned on his side, still feeling wretched. I tried to ignore the smell of his blood, running under his skin.

I'd have to drop by the hospital, pick up the packs they'd prepared. I didn't want to hurt my dad.

He spoke quietly after finishing his first piece of toast. "I know I haven't been a very good father, Taylor. I failed you, in a way that broke me." He gently tilted my chin up, and I gave him a small smile. "To have you back is a miracle. I know I haven't done anything to deserve it, but it's a miracle all the same. I don't _care_ if you wake me up in the middle of the night, or even if you've changed in ways I can't grasp. You're my daughter. I am going to treasure every second." He made a wry smile. "Even the ones when I've had three hours sleep."

I nodded at that, feeling uncomfortable. "So...what's the plan for today?"

Dad looked thoughtful. "I'm making arrangements to get us a lawyer. I can't afford one for too long, but if it means your future, it's worth it. Probably only need one for a day or two."

I breathed out, considering. "I need to head back to the hospital. Feeling hungry." I shrugged. "Then I'll try and relax. I have...well, a lot to work through, dad."

He gently squeezed my shoulder. "Will you be home at six, Taylor?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I smiled slightly. "We can have a movie night."

His smile was faint, but very welcome.

* * *

 _Updraft flee flee bright there wall look for red can't see bright ping buzzing warmth_ and I reformed on the top level of the hospital's parking garage. I thought about just appearing at the front doors out of a cloud of bats, but that's a good way to freak people out. Bats? Not exactly the cuddliest creature out there.

Though I kinda wanted to cuddle one right now. My instincts are weird.

I made a small laugh to myself at the thought of a vampire using a cuddly form to get around, though. Watch out for that pack of kittens? Pride of kittens? Group? What do you call a group of kittens, anyway?

I shook my head. My mind? Weird place, apparently, and that was before I got a bunch of instincts and urges out of a horror movie.

I felt like I was forgetting something...

Oh. Right.

I concentrated on the icy rage, and I felt the response. The Void Sword flashed into existence in my hand. I carefully turned the blade, this way and that. As in my dreams of the Castle, it looked and acted impossibly for an ordinary object. You do not get to forge a piece of nothing into a sword. Unless, apparently, you had the power of a god and an excellent demon for a smith.

And...how did I know that?

These snippets of knowledge from Dracul were pissing me off. Just enough to get me interested, but not enough to actually tell me anything useful.

Like with my burning claws, the blade's presence seemed to mess with my emotions. There was no emotion other than that cold, deadly focus, powered by methodical rage.

I dismissed the blade, taking a deep breath as my emotions came rushing back in. It didn't seem to _stop_ me from feeling other things, just set it aside for a bit. Still, that side-effect could be useful.

I made my way to the hospital's reception, giving a smile to the receptionist. This one was not the same one from last night. She was older, gray, and looked like she hadn't had a good day since the seventies. "Hi. Um. I'm Scarlet Knight, here to pick up some blood packs." Even saying that as my cape name sounded weird.

Part of me wanted 'I am the Dragon,' but I was very firmly telling that part of myself to shut up. It felt like it was something he'd ranted a few thousand times. Dragon was already taken and _I am not Dracul_ , dammit!

I didn't usually get whole thoughts from whatever he left me, more half-remembered memories and habits, but I did get enough to know one thing.

He was a jerk.

She glared at me, then rifled through her paperwork. Finally she found the form, and was seemingly disappointed at the destruction of the possible excuse to yell at someone. "Wait here." She picked up her phone, dialled a few numbers, then waited. All the while glaring at me.

What? What did I do?

Then she spoke into the phone. "Package to be delivered to SK? Yeah, bring it down."

I shifted uncomfortably while she turned back to her paperwork, steadfastly ignoring me.

Fine, be that way.

An intern came from a hall at the side, carrying a cooler. He saw me and smiled. "Scarlet Knight, I presume."

I gave him a smile. "Yeah."

He handed me the cooler. "We've got ten packs in there for you. Most are fresh, two are expired. Just bring the cooler back when you're done and we'll get you a new one, long as supplies are coming in."

Makes sense. Just keep swapping two coolers. Miss Militia must have thought of this. Or I'm not the only cape who's got an issue kinda like this. Probably insulin or something, rather than blood, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I went out the door and to the hospital's side. I found a spot on a small terrace, overlooking the sidewalk by the water. And even nicer, it was in the shade, at least in the mornings.

I opened the cooler, taking out one of the expired packs. If this was going to work, hopefully the old ones will do. I turned the pack this way and that, trying to figure out how I could open it without it ripping. Or exploding. Exploding would be bad. Finally, I figured 'screw it,' lengthened my fangs, and carefully bit the plastic. Then I suckled on the holes.

Coolness. Bitter. It tasted horrible. Oh it was drinkable, but only just. I could feel it helping with my hunger somewhat, but barely. I'd need three of these to get a full meal, and I could barely handle one. It seemed to be lacking that vitality that slaked my thirst so easily with the ABB members. And Lung. _His_ blood was potent, indeed.

"Ack! God!" I exclaimed, dropping the pack into the cooler. The leaking blood made a mess at the bottom of it, but I didn't care. I shuddered and coughed, trying to clear the taste.

I picked up a fresher pack, and bracing myself, popped it with my fangs. This was far, far better, but not exactly tasty. It utterly lacked the feelings that came with it when I fed previously, like having a meal entirely made of bland noodles. I could subsist on this, but not _thrive,_ I instinctively knew.

Something hit the ground behind me, I turned, and winced.

Panacea was there, with a bag at her feet, a wrapped sandwich falling out. And so was Glory Girl. And Glory Girl was bouncing on her feet.

"See! Told you he was a vampire. Told ya so!" Glory Girl said, grinning. "So glad I decided to pop by for lunch, Ames. We got it right here!"

Oh god. This is so horrible.

Wait. He?

Panacea smacked Glory Girl on the shoulder. "Vicky, come on, stop it. You're embarrassing." She gave me a wry smile. "Though you seem to be making a pretty good impression of one."

I grimaced. And flushed, managing to mutter. "Don't like it when someone sees me do this." Though I was a bit dubious about having any blood from the packs now. I poked the freshest one in the cooler.

I'll try it later. After rinsing out the cooler. The older blood was already making me less enthusiastic about the rest. I shut the cooler.

"Oh, he's embarrassed about it! That's so romantic." Glory Girl moved right up to me and poked me in the chest. "Can you eat regular food?"

I nodded. Didn't help me, but yeah, technically true.

She beamed. "Great! Ames and I'll take you to dinner, we can get to know the new cape in town. I'll set all this up! Meet you at Fugly Bob's at five!"

I...what?

Glory Girl gave Panacea a wave. "See you then, Ames!" Then she rocketed off into the sky, making me stumble back. I blinked a few times.

What the hell just happened?

Panacea let out a sigh, shaking her head. "She does this every time." She gave me a wry smile. "Vicky means well, but, well, she's a bulldozer. Nothing stops her. Especially once she has an idea."

I made a small laugh. "Well, I guess I can respect her enthusiasm, if not her approach." I held out my hand. "Scarlet Knight, I guess."

She took my hand, smiling. "Pana..." A shock went through my hand, suffusing my body. I felt something in the back of my mind twitch. _Mutability._

She paled. "What. The. Hell..."

I frowned. Both at her reaction and my own. "What?"

Her mouth worked for a few moments as she kept a hold on my hand. "You're...frozen, somehow. Your cells aren't dividing. Your heart isn't beating, but your veins are thrumming, your blood flowing, as if it was. When you breathe out, you're sending out just as much oxygen as you breathed in. It's like you're... locked on everything but the blood. And...is your armor _made_ of your blood? How is that working?"

...

Well, that's confirmation. I suspected it was the case, but to _know_ I'm undead, as opposed to sort of alive, is...

I got nothing. I have nothing like it. There is nothing like it to compare it to. And yet, I felt okay with it, somehow. I still felt like me. Mostly. Just with a lot more added on my already large pile of issues.

"Well..um...my power lets me manipulate my blood. I can make it into weapons, armor, clothing, whatever. It sounds horrible, I know, but I didn't ask for them. It's too useful for me to just set aside." I said, wincing. I pulled my hand away. Panacea just looked...distant. "Are you all right?" I asked, worried about what the answer might be.

She swallowed, then cleared her throat. "Y-yeah. I've seen some odd effects some powers have on people, but yours takes the cake. Yeesh, your power must have read some bad novels or something."

I guess. Or something. I suddenly had a mental image of a pale man, sitting on a throne, leafing through a bad teen romance novel with one hand and gouging clawmarks into his throne with the other.

I repressed a smile. If I ever had to get my revenge on Dracul, I knew how.

"Well, I feel fine. I don't feel much pain, and when I do get hurt, I heal quickly. I don't think there's much you could do for me. It'd be nice not needing blood, but considering everything else..." I made a small shrug.

Panacea nodded, then she made a small smile. "It's all right. It's _unusual_ , but...okay, it's just weird. Not bad, just weird. It's hard to figure." Her smile widened. "I was sure you were a girl, though. Vicky thought you were a guy."

That explained a lot. "Oh. Well, I'm not." I just have the impulses of one in my head, mixed up with my own. Maybe. I hoped that was all it was.

A slow smile spread across my face. Vengeance would be mine. "Of course you realize, we need to get her back for that?"

Panacea blinked, then her grin matched mine. "Oh, yeah. Let's try this again." She held out her hand. "Amy."

I giggled. Why not? I clasped her hand. "Taylor."

* * *

So I arrived at Fugly Bob's. I'd taken a moment on the way to duck into an alley and shift my armor into clothes. I now wore a long red jacket, a black shirt, and black jeans. I _had_ tried for blue, but apparently, I could have my clothes in any color I wanted as long as it was red or black.

Well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about color-matching. And changing the form of the armor didn't seem to strain my reserves. I didn't feel any hungrier afterward, anyway.

Not sure how that worked, but hey. I'm not going to complain. As for the feeding...I was somewhat concerned. I wasn't looking forward to an eternity of blandness. It wasn't like I could go and eat Lung every day.

Well, maybe...

No. No. No. Bad, bad, badbadbadBAD idea, Taylor.

Even if his blood was tasty.

Bad! Badbadbad!

I took a deep breath and headed inside. I spotted Victoria, Amy, and a boy I didn't know sitting at a booth at the back. I grinned, walked over, and plunked myself down next to Amy.

Victoria blinked at me. "Uh..."

I smiled innocently. "Expecting someone else?"

Amy fought to keep a grin off her face. And failed, bursting into giggles.

Victoria looked scandalized, then laughed. "Ames! You sneak!"

* * *

A/N:

Powers unlocked:

Fleshcrafting: Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.


	12. Interlude: PHO, Tattletale

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 **Topic: New Cape in Brockton Bay?  
In: Boards ► Cape Sightings**

 **SkateOrDie** (Original Poster) (Cape Groupie)  
Posted on April 9, 2011:

So here I am, waiting in the reception area for Brockton General for my broken leg (long ass story, involves ninjas(not really)) when who  
walks in?

Miss frickin' Militia. And right behind her is some guy in all red armor.  
It looked pretty creepy, but also pretty badass. And actually, you know, functional.  
Some capes go for super-elaborate armor which is more pretty than functional, but this one looked practical. And scary.

I overheard him being introduced as Scarlet Night or something. Anybody have any word?

 **(Showing Page 1 of 4)**

 **► IKnowNothing**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Heard some rumors about some cape in red running around. Didn't have much beyond gossip, though. Rumor was he was spotted  
dropping off Lung at Armsmaster's feet.

 **► JackSkellington**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Wait, wait, wait.

This new cape took out Lung?

Who the hell just takes out Lung? Why didn't they just shout to the skies 'I am the BAMF who took out Lung?'

Seriously, this is freaking Lung!

 **► TotallyNotAVillain**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Well, I don't know. Maybe because the ABB has a psycho knife fetishist teleporter/cloner who likes to turn himself into a suicide bomber?

 **► Glory Girl** (Verified Cape) (New Wave)  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
It's Scarlet Knight, with a K. As in Knights of the Round Table. The knightly armor not clue you in?

Anyway, she's fun. Bit shy, but that's alright. Just means I get to have fun drawing her out of her shell.

For the moment though, she's just doing her own thing. Leave her alone, yeah? She'll debut officially when she's ready. Try not to accost  
her if you see her, she's trying to straighten her life out.

See? I can be considerate!

 **► JackSkellington**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Well. That clears things up a bit. And SK's a girl? Well, even better!

And if the rumors are true, then Lung got beaten up by a rookie girl.

I think I can hear his pride crying in a corner.

 **► TotallyNotAVillain**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Know what this means?

She must lead us upon a quest for the Holy Grail.

*breaks out the coconuts*

 **► xxVoid Cowboyxx**  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
[This post was deleted by Moderator]

 **► TinMother** (Moderator)  
Replied on April 9, 2011:  
Speculation on cape identities is forbidden by the Terms of Service.

Enjoy your two week ban.

 **► NoblyCharred**  
Replied on April 10, 2011:  
Don't you ever learn, Void?

Seriously, what you do? Not cool. Learn a freaking lesson already. Or do you really want to give a supervillain reason to come to your  
door?

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **,** **4**

* * *

Lisa tapped her chin, licking her lips.

 _ **Made contact with New Wave. Calculated move or taking advantage of coincidence? Not enough data. Control growing, emotional health improving, support gained by allying with PRT and New Wave. Still best chance to be freed from Coil.**_

Her power was so certain of that. So certain that the girl in red was going to be an immense power in the near future.

Her phone rang. She grimaced, knowing already who it would be.

"Yes, boss?"

 _"I require you to be visible and public on Tuesday. Between noon and three, something within downtown."_

Her power made the connections quickly.

 _ **Does not care what the action is. Distractionary measure for another goal. During Protectorate gathering on the other side of town.**_

"Arcadia is nearby, there. The Wards would be on top of us within minutes."

 _"A few minutes is all that is required. There will be substantial incentives."_

Lisa paused. Dammit.


	13. Reclamation 2-4

I stared hard at Director Piggot.

She returned the stare, unfazed. "Miss Hebert, I understand you're angry."

My lip curled. "Angry? No, no, no. I'm not angry at all, Director. I am entirely _furious_ as to this situation. Anger does not _begin_ to describe what I'm feeling right now." Frost was forming on the table beneath my hands. My grip on the Void, while less pronounced with the sword in its whatever-space it resided in when not in my hand, was helping to keep me under control. It's the only reason I hadn't gotten up from my chair and started ripping the entire hotel apart around me.

We'd spent a week getting all this prepared, and what happens? I go right back to world-destruction mode. Great!

Piggot, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia had noticed the dropping temperature, and all three were uneasy. My armor creaked and crinkled as tiny shards of ice flaked off my gloves.

Dad gently took my shoulder, though his expression was hard, as well. "Director, you'd better explain. Carefully."

Jason Thompson, our lawyer, nodded. "Considering the allegations involved, and the evidence gathered by your own investigations that Miss Hebert is indeed who she appears to be, and your claim her would-be murderer is a member of the Wards, this is a very, very dangerous situation for the PRT and the Protectorate."

Piggot set her glasses down on the table. "It was a combination of failures and corruption, unfortunately. A number of former villains have joined the Protectorate in the past, and managed to reform themselves in the eyes of the public and the government. However, a close eye is kept upon them for a minimum of five years, and no set maximum. Such things are taken on a case-by-case basis. Shadow Stalker operated as a vigilante for two years before she was brought into the Wards. She was under probation, a single misstep by her would have sent her to juvenile hall. She was brought in when she nearly killed a man by pinning him to a wall with her crossbow bolts and left him there. He nearly bled to death."

She worked her mouth for a moment, grimacing. "Understand that Shadow Stalker was certainly not the first we have taken under our wing like this. Most straighten out. The rest end up getting the full force of the law upon their heads. Which Shadow Stalker _is_ getting."

"Only after I get back from the grave. Apparently, I didn't matter before." The frost spread further from under my hands.

Piggot shook her head. "You _did_ matter and you _do_ matter. Given the severity of the crime _and_ her actions afterward, we are pushing her to be tried as an adult. Had we known of her harassment of you in her civilian identity, we would have packed her up and sent her to juvenile hall immediately. Her PRT handler covered up that information in the interest of keeping a rather 'easy' assignment." She sighed, looking angry herself. "On top of that, the moment we confirmed your identity, we also sent the information to the FBI to pick up Emma Barnes, as well as her father, Alan Barnes, on the charges of conspiracy after the fact."

My glare was icy. "And yet these actions are not taken until I _climb out of the grave they put me in._ "

Piggot took a deep breath, licking her lips. Despite the backup she had directly behind her, she looked nervous. I'd have missed it without the focus of the Void. "We lacked the information. Upon our arrest and interrogation of Shadow Stalker, we learned why. Have you heard of Coil?"

I shook my head.

She nodded. "We're not even certain he is a parahuman. What we _do_ know is he has spread his influence throughout much of Brockton Bay. He has no known parahumans working under him, but he does keep teams of mercenaries under his employ and uses them against both Lung and Kaiser's forces. We suspect he is a Thinker, or at the very least has a very good information network. Shadow Stalker has claimed that evidence that would have exposed her role in your apparent death was intercepted and 'disappeared' by Coil."

I blinked slowly. "And why should I believe anything my tormentor has said?"

Armsmaster tapped his helmet. "I have a lie detector programmed into my equipment. It read as 'true' when she gave that information. From what we've managed to ascertain, after the...incident, Coil used the opportunity to forcibly recruit Shadow Stalker into his organization. He's been using her for various tasks. Information gathering, infiltration, assassination."

I stared at him. A long moment passed before I managed to speak. "I'm still not feeling any sympathy for the girl who killed me."

He looked uncomfortable.

Miss Militia spoke, then. "We're not expecting you to. And we understand that our apologies, at this point, are inadequate. But we _are_ trying to help, and it would be best if we can all leave this room with an arrangement that's at the least tolerable, if not ideal."

Piggot nodded. "First of all, we're throwing everything we have at Shadow Stalker and Barnes. Harassment, assault, battery, kidnapping, forcible detainment, manslaughter, conspiracy after the fact, and a whole list of smaller charges. Considering you've..." She looked dubious as to how to word it. "'Resurrected' we may have difficulty in making the most serious charges stick. However, when it comes to parahuman events with the law, there can be arguments made to at least attempt to charge her with it. After all, you were certainly close enough to actually being dead to fool a coroner _after_ the autopsy."

Thompson spoke, then. "And what about pain and anguish? Daniel Hebert believed his daughter dead for three months. Taylor herself was tormented for a year and a half due to their protracted campaign, and if she hadn't become a parahuman, she would truly be dead, herself. Will the PRT take responsibility?"

Piggot considered for a few long moments. "Shadow Stalker's Ward account will be immediately transferred over to your name, and made available. It will be paid into until you turn eighteen." She held up a hand as I opened my mouth. "No strings. The money is yours. As far as I'm concerned, she forfeited it and it _should_ belong to you, considering what you went through. If you would consider joining the Wards, we will pay into it at the same rate of pay as a full Protectorate member. If you don't join the Wards, it's still yours."

Thompson looked to me. Not exactly a humongous fortune here, but it would help. I nodded slightly, and he did in return. "And Mister Hebert?"

Piggot grimaced. "That is a bit more complicated. I am _not_ stating that it is irrelevant. It most definitely is relevant. However, I have great difficulty in coming up with any kind of compensation that would be remotely adequate. The equivalent of three months pay at your job would be ludicrously short. And yet, my resources are still limited."

Dad thought for a few minutes, then nodded. "Hire the Dockworker's Union for Protectorate work around the city. That would be a start. And only a start. I... _think_ we can work out a few more details from there."

I spoke then. "And what about my third tormentor, Madison?"

Piggot picked up a file folder and handed it to me. I opened it, took the first sheet, and read it through.

 _I, Madison Clements, being of both sound mind and body, swear that everything that follows in this document and following documents is true to the best  
of my recollection._

 _For a year and a half, I participated in an ongoing bullying campaign against Taylor Hebert. Taylor had done nothing against us, and sought assistance  
from the school authorities on multiple occasions, with none materializing. She was failed by the system, and failed by myself. I acted with malicious cruelty  
against her, tormenting her by stealing her work and destroying her property while my _*scribblescratch* _former friends Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess  
attacked her psychologically and physically, respectively._

 _As a result of these actions, Taylor Hebert died in her locker on January seventh, 2011. I was unaware of the 'prank' that Emma and Sophia had planned  
at the time. When I learned of the fact and attempted to confront the two about it, Sophia Hess threatened both my life, Emma's life, and the lives of our family  
members._

I blinked. I could see her doing that. Threatening, that is.

 _I do not shirk responsibility from my actions. I am willingly turning myself in to the police department to answer for my crimes. It is my hope that the role I  
played in Taylor's death can be answered for by all three of us, including myself. I have no illusions that I can possibly make up for the injustice I performed  
upon Taylor, nor that she can forgive me, being dead. It is only my hope that my confession can help protect my family and others like Taylor._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Madison Clements_

Out of curiosity, I went to the next page. Then the next, then the next. Listed in Madison's handwriting was _every_ incident she could recall.

Nowhere near as extensive as my notebooks had been, as they were only from Madison's point of view, and she hadn't been present for everything. On top of that, she didn't have perfect memory, so there were some rather large gaps in places. But...damn. There were ten pages of incidents here.

"Okay." I breathed out as I closed the folder, putting it before Thompson. He began to leaf through it with interest. "She's confessed to being a bully."

Piggot, Miss Militia, and Armsmaster shifted uncomfortably.

No. No. She couldn't have. She did. "She triggered?" I guessed. I couldn't see any other reason they'd hesitate about this.

Armsmaster nodded. "Apparently, she now has designs for weapons and equipment in her head. We gave her a few materials and she was able to craft unusual items out of them. She also claims to have fighting techniques, though not muscle training to pull them off, but it's still unusual for Tinkers. There is some pressure for us to have her join the Wards."

"I won't join a team with Madison." I said flatly. "Ever."

Piggot nodded. "Understandable. However, that is not what we are asking. We're laying out some options for you. If you wish to press charges against her, that is what we will do. Considering her confession and her circumstances, however, we hope you will consider allowing her to join the Wards as a probationary member."

"The same deal Sophia got?" I said acidly. The frost on the table expanded.

Piggot pulled her hands back from the encroaching cold, then shook her head. "Sophia was forced into the Wards, she showed no signs of repentant behaviour and she managed to manipulate the situation so she could get away with her illegal actions. The handlers in question have been fired, charges are being laid upon them, and Madison, at least, seems to be genuinely remorseful. She also, to the best of our knowledge, does not know who Shadow Stalker is. Or that you've returned from the dead. We _will_ do with Madison what _should_ have been done with Sophia. And if you agree, she would not have to be here in Brockton Bay. She may be transferred elsewhere."

I considered that for long moments. Finally, I got to my feet. "I need to think about this. I'll contact you later."

Piggot blinked, while Dad took my shoulder. I pushed him off.

"Taylor, wait!" Dad said.

Thompson stood, too. "Please, Miss Hebert, as your legal counsel, I have to ask you to sit down."

I grit my teeth. "If I stay here, I _will_ do something I'll regret. I'll get in contact _later._ "

Before anyone else could move, I teleported out the window and burst into bats in mid-air.

* * *

Well. Though sunlight still hurt, it still shows no sign of killing me. And neither do crosses, apparently. Figured that one out when bats-me returned to normal (well, normalish) Taylor upon a cross at the top of a church.

It was, however, pretty fragile, so I hopped off as it began to creak and went to the edge of the church roof, went to the shady side, sat down, and breathed out. Then I released my grip on the icy rage, the power of the Void, that had kept me focused. Then I let out a scream.

 _Fucking_ Sophia Hess. She was supposed to be a hero! She had action figures! _Action figures_ of the girl who killed me.

 _She deserves to see all she loves_ _ **razed**_ _for this._

That impulse felt horribly, frighteningly familiar. I was tempted, I was really tempted. It would be _easy_ , even. Find her place. Light my hands on fire and tear her house down. Rip her loved ones limb from limb. Go through each and every thing she cared about and turned it to ash, before I came for her, dragged her out of the cell the PRT had her in, ripped out her heart and fucking _ate_ it before she completely lost herself from the shock.

One thing stopped me.

The thought of how Mom would have looked at me if I did.

How it would have broken her if she knew she raised a monster.

I knew if I took that oh so ever-tempting step, I'd be taking that same step _HE_ took. The first step from vengeance upon a single person to a vengeance upon the entire world. The kind of thing that would make my name as feared as the Slaughterhouse Nine.

 _They are beneath me._

Okay, _worse_ than the Nine.

I trembled. I sobbed. I breathed, though I didn't need to, it helped. The rush of emotions was so _very_ hard to deal with. And it was all the worse because I knew that this wasn't whatever Dracul had left behind. This was all me. The bits of him were just making things worse.

"Whoa." Came a voice from above. I managed to look up, though I couldn't see much through my tear-filled eyes. The all-white outfit and glint on the head, though, told me.

"Hey, Vicky. What are you doing here?" I muttered.

She landed next to me and sat. "Kinda heard you scream about three blocks away. Alright, Red. What's up?"

I managed a small, bitter laugh. "Oh. Not much. Life sucks. I...can't talk too much about it."

"Ahh." She nodded sagely. "Cape problems. Kinda happens." I wiped my eyes, managing a clear look at her. She looked considering. "Yeah, I've had to sign a few NDA's, too. Kind of annoying, but, well, there's good reasons, usually."

I muttered. "Yeah, only I got fucked over by them before I knew anything. My life's screwed over because a bunch of jerks covered their asses." If it wasn't for Dracul's power, I might not even _have_ a life. Or unlife. Whatever.

She looked pensive, she patted me on the shoulder, then got to her feet. "I'll be right back, all right? Wait right there!" Before I could even open my mouth, she rocketed off.

I simply sat, watching the street for a bit. Some of the passers-by noticed me, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Let them look at the depressed cape hanging out on a rooftop. Go ahead, gawk!

Hey, you. Yes, you! Go ahead, take a picture. Put it on PHO. I know you're gonna do that anyway!

Yeah, I see your phone. It's old, too!

I blinked as Vicky returned, holding a bucket of ice cream. And two heavily-reinforced spoons. She gave me a smile. "Butterscotch?"

My lip quirked. "I don't think I'll mind that."

So there we sat quietly. Well, I was quiet, sampling ice cream. Vicky chattered as she took clumps of her own.

"So, yeah, it's embarrassing, especially in retrospect. I triggered because of a foul at a basketball game. Mom, dad, Ames, Aunt Sarah, they all went through a hellish moment to get their powers. I just got a bad moment. Oh, there was the pressure to succeed and a bunch of stuff pushed on me, but it's nothin' compared to what most capes go through."

She grinned, giving me a stage-whisper. "Know what the worst part is? I got up, picked up the ball, and flew across the whole court and slam-dunked it right into the hoop. And if that point had counted, we'd have won! But nope, not allowed to use powers to win games."

I managed a small chuckle. "Pity. They should have a parahuman Olympics."

Vicky nodded quickly, grinning. "Oh, yeah! I can see it now." She put on an announcer voice. "Here the runners are, doing the hundred yard dash! Boom, it's over! 1.3 seconds! And he went through the wall! Disqualified!"

I giggled, taking a bit more ice cream.

She went on, milking it for all it's worth. "And now for the high jump. Oh, he hit the blimp!" She turned to the side. "They'll take off points for that, Dave!"

We looked at each other, and shared a long, hard laugh.

I wiped my tears away, letting out a deep breath. "Thanks, Vicky."

"Hey," She grinned. "What are friends for? Besides, you and Ames got me the other day. Know when the last time she played a prank on me was? Never. It was good to see her laugh."

I made a small smile at that. "Well, I _had_ to get my vengeance on you calling me a boy somehow."

She laughed. "Yep, you got me. You going to be all right?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Eventually, yeah."

"Good. Feel free to call me, hm? Friend of Ames is a friend of mine. See ya, Red!"

She rocketed off into the sky, leaving me with about a quarter of the ice cream bucket. I shrugged and kept eating it, thinking.

Finally, when I was finished, I set it aside, took a deep breath, and took out the cell phone Armsmaster had given me. I set the right option on the number memory and waited.

" _Parahuman Response Team, Brockton Bay division."_

"This is Scarlet Knight. I wish to speak with Director Piggot."

" _One moment please."_

There was an annoyingly repetitive song that played while I waited. It didn't take much more than a minute, though.

" _Director Piggot speaking."_

I took a deep breath. "You want me to consider what to do with Madison. I want to meet her first."


	14. Reclamation 2-5

My dad squeezed my shoulder. "You sure you want to do this, Taylor?"

I looked through the one-way mirror. Madison sat there, dressed in casual clothing, her hands were unbound. The room was otherwise bare, save for the chairs and the metal table. "I have to do this." I said quietly.

Armsmaster stood at my right. He pointed to the cameras. "We're having this recorded, and when we're done, I'll run everything through my lie detector program. I'll be reading things as we go, but this is for your benefit afterward."

I nodded slowly, then I looked at him. "Why are you going through all this effort for me, Armsmaster?"

His lips curved into a frown. "It's the right thing to do. Admittedly, if I hadn't been...told, certain things, I wouldn't have considered this. I tend to be good with machines, not people. I very nearly failed you in our first meeting because I was inconsiderate. We were concerned you weren't who you appeared to be, but that's an explanation, not an excuse. Had things gone slightly differently, one of the gangs might have gotten you recruited or killed. And that would have been my responsibility, however indirectly. That's why I'm doing what I can, now."

I shivered a little. He had a point. By all rights, Lung should have gotten me. I let out a deep breath. "Whatever your reasons, thanks."

He nodded slightly. I stepped out of the observation room, and nodded to the officer at the side of the interrogation room. He opened the door, and I stepped inside.

Purposefully deepening my voice slightly, I spoke as I walked in. "Hello, Miss Clements."

She looked up at me, and her eyes widened. She paled. Did she recognize me? My helmet should have helped prevent that.

I stepped closer, about to take the chair, when I stopped. Something was familiar about her. Something _bright_. It was as if I'd seen people like her a hundred times or more.

Something of Dracul turned in my head.

 _Belmont._

Her entire body straightened, and she pulled back, jumping into a corner of the room. "P-please, don't hurt anybody else! Please! I know what you are, please, kill me if you have to but leave everyone else alone!" She glanced to the mirror, blinked, then looked back to me.

I looked over at the mirror, myself. What? I look scary, sure, my eyes were glowing red...they're glowing red? No wonder some people freaked out while looking at me. I'll have to see how that works. But why glance at the mirror...wait. Huh. Apparently, she was checking to see if I even _had_ a reflection. And I do. Weird. And it's weird that I thought it was weird.

She knows I'm a vampire. And yet, I'm not the kind of vampire she knows.

I froze for a moment, mulling over what I could feel at the back of my head. Rage, recognition, respect, excitement...sadness, regret, loneliness, despair. Something about what Madison had was familiar to Dracul in some way. But it was only faint impressions of emotions, not the real knowledge from the man turned vampire god himself. There wasn't any context attached. All I had from him was this vague desire to kill her before she could be a threat to me.

I knew that Dracul would have done it in a moment. Fortunately, I wasn't him.

Finally, I spoke. "I'm not here to kill anybody, Miss Clements."

Her eyes searched mine for long moments before she swallowed, hard. "Then why are you here?"

I tilted my head slightly. "I am known as the Scarlet Knight. And while your life is safe from me, your _future_ is in my hands."

She swallowed, licking her lips. "Why would you have that choice?"

"Personal interest." I said, my voice cold.

Madison shuddered, looking scared to death as she stared at me.

I took a seat, putting my hands on the table. Then I looked to her. "Have a seat."

She carefully stepped toward me, sliding into her seat with all the reluctance of someone going to their execution. She kept trembling as she looked at me.

I folded my hands in front of me. It felt good to be in control. Almost disturbingly so. "Miss Clements, I read your confession. You could have easily chosen to simply file that Sophia had threatened your family, or claimed that it was only Emma and Sophia as responsible for the death of Miss Hebert. You chose to name yourself as responsible as well. Why?"

Madison let out a small, bitter, dead laugh. "Because I was. The three of us put all our attention on Taylor. We didn't choose to make anyone else's life hell, we did it to her. I didn't put her in there, but I was killing her all the same. I can't speak for Emma's or Sophia's reasons, but I knew mine. _It was a game._ I did it so I could be on the top of the school, so I could be great. I never considered _anything_ about what my actions were doing to her. I never _thought_ anything other than how much fun I'd have once I pulled whatever trick. I...was a complete fucking idiot."

She licked her lips, her face filled with shame. "You know why I wasn't involved with the locker? Because my brother caught the flu and passed it on to me. I was sick the entire week. Not because I'd have thought it a step too far or because of the thought that nobody would deserve that. I know how I'd have reacted on hearing the idea about locking Taylor in a locker with trash for a few hours. _I'd have liked it._ I would have found it _funny._ And that idea, more than anything, makes me sick to my stomach."

It took everything I had to stay still as Madison spoke. To imagine her laughing about me as I struggled and screamed in The Locker. Only the sheer remorse, the tears running down her cheeks, kept me listening.

Madison took a deep, shuddering breath. "That was it. I know how I'd have reacted if they shot the idea past me. I'd have gone along with it, like a happy, stupid little sheep. Because I was. I'd have gone along with any horrible thing they suggested as long as it was aimed at someone outside my friends. Because those folks aren't _people_ , like little special snowflake me."

She shut her eyes. "And then Taylor died. It wasn't a game anymore. It was real, it was serious, and Taylor was dead because I _never_ thought to tell Emma or Sophia to back off, to stop, to consider what we were doing and what kind of people we were becoming. Never thought about what I had been doing. Never thought that being admired meant _nothing_ when it comes to who you are. You know I used to like looking at myself in the mirror? I don't, today. I haven't since January eighth."

She shivered, staring at her hands. "What kind of person pushes someone to the point of death without any thought whatsoever? Me, apparently. I _wanted_ to say something after all of it. The only reason I didn't is because Sophia threatened to kill my entire family. I didn't care about _me_ , I deserved whatever happened to me. But Mom, Dad, Trevor, they didn't. I _didn't_ deserve them." She sniffed, wiping her tears.

I considered that for a long few minutes, keeping a tight clamp on my surging emotions. "Why did you step forward now, and not before?"

She hiccupped. "Because someone broke into our house. Went through all my things. I thought Sophia went in to make sure there wasn't anything left to tie her to things before she killed me. I thought she'd finally decided to tie me up as the last loose end here in town. Who else would?"

Oh. Oops. I hadn't been thinking, there. But then again, I _had_ just climbed out of my grave that morning.

Well, teleported. If I'd had to dig myself out, I'm pretty sure I'd have gone cackling evil mistress of the universe by now.

I spent long minutes examining her features. The face of one of my worst tormentors, who had smiled and giggled and played little nice girl while making my life hell. She was broken, had been by her own actions, and I hadn't even had to lift a finger. All I'd done was expose it to the fresh air. Without even knowing I'd done it.

Finally, I spoke. "If you could say anything to Taylor, what would it be?"

She made a helpless laugh, shrugging, tears flowing freely. "What could I possibly say? I'm sorry I tormented you? I'm sorry I was crushing your academic dreams? I'm sorry I wrecked your clothes? I'm sorry that I was part of the clique that killed you? I'm sorry that I'm a complete fucking idiot? What could I say?"

I bit my lip. This was probably a very stupid decision. But, if I was going to make a choice that would affect the rest of her life, she had a right to know who was making it, and why. It's more than I ever got. And that's why I felt I had to do it.

With a casualness I didn't feel, I pulled off my helmet and set it on the metal table. Her features went completely white.

My lips thinned. "Try."

Madison's mouth worked for a few moments. She shook uncontrollably, then burst into tears. "H-how?...o-oh god, you..."

I kept staring at her.

She wiped her face, then took a deep, shuddering breath. "Taylor, oh god. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I can't say enough how much. I can't _say_ anything that would ever fix what I did to you."

Madison went on for long minutes while I listened, babbling about how much she regretted what she'd done. Finally I rose a hand, and she quieted, struggling to breathe.

"You're right. There is nothing you can say to make this right. There's nothing you can possibly say that would make me forgive you. Because of a thousand little choices you, Emma, and Sophia made, I ended up in a _grave for three fucking months._ There is _nothing_ you can say. We could sit here for the next two hundred years and it wouldn't change a thing."

Madison's face crumbled. I could almost _see_ her soul breaking. I leaned forward, looking her in the eye.

"But there is something you can _do._ "

Her breath caught, her eyes flaring with a desperate, impossible hope. I'd seen it before, when my dad realized it really was me.

"Because you have powers now, the Protectorate wants you in the Wards. However, because of all the _shit_ you put me through, they are also willing to press charges against you on my behalf. And with your signed confession, it wouldn't be all that hard to make stick. Maybe you'd get some leniency, whatever, but that isn't the point." I tapped my fingertips on the metal table.

Madison took a deep gasp of air. "Th-that's why you've got my future in hand."

I nodded. "That's why. It's only fitting, all things considered. You and your friends? If I hadn't gained my power, you'd have stolen _mine._ Now, before I walked in this room, I was considering throwing the whole damn library at you. But you've already tortured yourself more than I'd get any satisfaction out of sending you to a prison, however they'd sentence you."

"So here's the deal, Madison. You got two choices. You join the Wards, on probation. You act out there in the world as you _should_ have acted in the school. You help people, you protect them, you _fucking think_ about what you're doing. Or you turn it down. You accept responsibility, and sit in a cell for five to ten years or _however long_ , thinking about what you've done. I don't care much either way. But if you _ever_ want to be able to look me in the eye again, or be able to look at _yourself_ in the mirror again, you'll join the Wards. You save lives. You do it for them. You do it for your own soul. You do it for the girl who died in that locker. Because _I fucking died in there._ "

She shook in her seat, trembling with fear, sorrow, and guilt. She made a small, hysterical giggle. "Kinda always wanted to be a hero."

I rose from my seat, a small twitch coming to my lips as I picked up my helmet and put it back on. "So did I."

I banged on the door, strode out when it opened, and went to the next room.

"Well?" I asked Armsmaster.

"She told the truth about everything. Highest she hit as for probability on lying was seven percent. We did find one lie, though." He tilted his head. "Considering prosecution before you went in?"

I made a small smile. "Yeah, I lied there. I was leaning towards her going to the Wards before I went in. But I had to see her for myself. If she wants to redeem herself, I'll give her a chance. _One_ chance."

My dad came up to me and hugged me. "Proud of you, kiddo."

I returned the hug, letting out a shaking breath. "Thanks, dad." I looked to Armsmaster. "There's two more things, before anything else. Tell Director Piggot Madison can stay in Brockton Bay, if it's reasonable. I want to be able to keep an eye on her. For now, anyway."

He nodded. "And the other?"

"If I'm going to be staying here for a while, to get my life back in order, we need to help prevent misunderstandings. I want to meet the Wards."


	15. Reclamation 2-6

I looked across the street at my destination. Taking a glance downward, I shuddered at the sight of the PRT building's front doors, the memory of the feeling of being trapped rather powerful. Small spaces and me were _not_ friends. Or acquaintances. Or on speaking terms. In fact, if I ever met a cape whose power was to make lockers, coffins, or closets, I'm going to punch him. Just because.

I'm glad I didn't have to sleep in a coffin. It'd have driven me insane in very short order. Well, _more_ insane. I knew I was getting better, but there was still a lot to get through. But, if I didn't start confronting my fears, they'd rule me forever. And considering I just might _have_ forever, or at least an extraordinarily long time, I'll just have to start dealing.

But not today! Today, I was going to sneak around my fears!

Take that, me!

So, I looked up. A figure waved at me from the helipad, and I took a deep breath, teleporting over the gap between the buildings. The thought? Go in by the roof and maybe I can trick my future self into not thinking she's going into the same place with the containment foam.

She's a tricky one, though, my future self. She always knows what I'm trying to pull.

The moment I flashed back into existence, several box-shaped objects rose from the corners of the rooftop. I held still as they cast laser scanners over me, entering my profile into the building's systems.

Glad I was told about this. Otherwise, I might have done something drastic when they popped up. Once they were finished and retracted, I walked forward with a smile. "Miss Militia. Good to see you."

I could hear the smile in her voice. "Glad to see you too. Ready to come on down?"

No. Not really. I knew it was the smart idea, but I still didn't like it. "Sure."

Traitorous mouth.

So we took the stairs down a few floors. We could have taken the elevator, but I took one look at the elevator doors and shuddered. No. Nonono. _No._ If I went in there, the PRT will be sending my dad the bill for a new elevator. And maybe a new building.

I hated being afraid. It got old very, very fast.

So I followed Miss Militia, doing my best to relax. The halls were wide, which was nice, and the hallways were painted white, which was also nice. Almost shining white, really. When we stopped before a door, Miss Militia hit a button on the wall next to it, and there was a buzz. A light above it turned red.

"A twenty-second warning." She explained on seeing my expression. "Gives anyone who hasn't put on a mask the opportunity to grab one. Also a warning that someone is coming in who isn't privy to their identities. They should be prepared. But, well, they're teenagers."

I grinned. "Yeah."

The light turned green, the door clicked, and we headed inside.

Well. This was a mess. I wasn't aware there was an explosives expert on the Wards. Old pizza boxes, pop cans, and empty popcorn bags were everywhere. A well-worn couch, a large tv, and...

Damn. They have a PS3. And a Wii. And a lot of games right there. Well, that settles it. I'm joining up.

Wait. I'd have to share them. Nevermind. I'll get my own. Mine, all mine! And I won't have to share my tv!

One by one, the Wards came out of their quarters. Well, the first _rushed_ out of her quarters and spoke rapid-fire.

"Hi I'm Vista your armor's neat is that a dragon on the helmet how'd you make it can you make a dragon statue are you joining the Wards?"

I blinked.

A chuckle came from a teen wearing a white bodysuit with a clock motif. "Come on Vista, give the gal a chance to respond. Not everyone operates at hyperspeed, you know."

Vista swiped the air. A smack resounded, and the teen yelped. "Ow, hey!"

"You deserved that." Said another teen, this one wearing red and gold. He held out his hand. "Kid Win. Ignore Clockblocker, we all do."

"Hey!"

I shook his hand, giving a smile. "Scarlet Knight." I looked to Vista. "And no, I'm not joining. But I'm also not a villain, so I thought it best to come around, introduce myself, so we don't get into a fight over a misunderstanding if we bump into each other out there."

"What?!" Exclaimed Clockblocker. "You're cancelling the new-hero introduction fight!? You know, where you show up, we all throw down to show everybody how strong the new one is, _then_ get to the introductions and pizza!? You're ruining a tradition here!"

Vista swiped the air again. Smack.

"OW! Hey!"

Another teen, this one's costume showing the muscles on his arms, shook his head in dismay. I liked what I saw. "Good thinking. I'm Aegis, and I have the privilege of leading Brockton Bay Wards."

I smiled. "Good to meet you." I turned to the last one, a teen in power armor. He seemed frozen while staring at me. Huh. Something about him seemed familiar. What was his profile on PHO? "You are?"

He shook himself. "Gallant." He held out his hand, and I shook it. "Sorry. Got a bit distracted."

I nodded, giving Vista a concerned look as she looked disappointed. "You okay?"

She made a small shrug, her voice quiet. "Gets lonely being the only girl on the team."

Clockblocker tilted his head. "Shadow Stalker doesn't count, of course. Nobody liked her."

Oh. Good. I'd be noping my way right out of the building if they did.

Gallant shook his head. "It's rude to bad-mouth someone behind their back."

Clockblocker chimed in. "And dangerous to bad-mouth her from the front!"

Smack. "Ow!"

Aegis face-palmed. "Can we _try_ to be professional here?"

"Nope!" Clockblocker said. "It's in my contract."

I was fighting to keep in my giggles. Miss Militia looked to be in about the same state, right up against the wall, suspiciously amused sounds coming from under her scarf.

Okay, I didn't mind so much. Miss Militia was good in my books.

I shook my head, smiling with amusement. "Okay, I get the disappointment. Shadow Stalker gone, though I get the feeling there won't be too many tears, there, doesn't help you much. But suffice to say I've got my reasons for not joining. My trigger," Everyone in the room winced. Yeah, they knew it. "Was bad enough that it screwed up everything about my life. I'm only now getting things back in order, and until I've got things going smoothly I'm more likely to be a liability than an asset."

Gallant shifted a bit. He looked...relieved? Huh. I couldn't remember his power at the moment. I needed to go trawling PHO.

Aegis nodded. "I can get that. The PRT has therapists on hand and such, but...yeah. You sure we can't help?"

I made a small shrug. "PRT's already doing what they can, but things are still dicey for me. Getting better, but...yeah. It sounds corny, but I gotta know who I am before I join a group. And before anybody asks, I can't give the details. I'm definitely not comfortable sharing them with strangers."

Everyone nodded. Even Clockblocker. He clapped his hands. "Well then, if we're not going to have the introduction fight, we need to improvise! I say...Mario Kart tournament!"

I grinned. "Oh, it's on."

* * *

I cackled evilly as Vista sprang to her feet, cheering. "She gotcha, Clockblocker! I win!"

Clockblocker shot me a dirty look. "Got me with a red shell as a bomb."

I grinned maniacally. "Yep. You got me. I had to take you with me."

Kid Win selected a new map. "We're losing badly here, Clock."

I held out my fist for Vista. She grinned and gave it a bump with her own.

* * *

I left the Wards in a good mood. Though I wasn't joining, I had to say I was tempted. I hadn't had any friends at Winslow, and they would have been good for me.

But while I told the Wards the truth about why I wasn't joining, it wasn't the whole truth. The idea of answering to someone else rubbed me the wrong way. For a long, long time, people made decisions for me, while I had so very few of my own. I needed to be able to rely on my own judgement if I was to handle the sheer _power_ I got hints of from Dracul. Not that I wouldn't need help, or advice or whatever. Simply that I had to be able to trust myself.

Aside from the whole outwitting my future self thing.

I also needed relationships that were mine to choose. The Wards were good, now that Sophia was out of them, but that wouldn't necessarily stay the case. Madison was going to be joining them, not that I'd let that slip. Just because I'd given her a chance to become a better person doesn't mean she'd suddenly become my best friend. Having friends that weren't poisonous might help, but I felt I needed to be on the outside, keep as clear a head as I could. Just in case she did revert to type.

Then there was that feeling from Dracul, that half-remembered fragment. _Belmont._ The hell did that mean? Something about my powers and hers were connected, but _how?_

I needed a lot more than the vague cloud I had in the back of my head. I needed knowledge and he left me an index card. Names, but not context. Hatred, but no specific object to hate. Rage, but no target. Contempt, but in a general way, applying to all of humanity. Though there was something about the idea of the Slaughterhouse Nine-

 _They are beneath me._

-seemed to irk this echo or whatever of him. Right on cue.

And the more aware of all this I was, the less effect those remnants had on me.

It was still a problem, though. It would be easy for me to just do things in the heat of the moment, and end up doing something terrible.

I took my time, moving from rooftop to rooftop as I headed homeward. I could have easily taken my bat form and did it much more quickly, but I didn't feel like subjecting myself to the disorientation of it right now. Teleportation left me hungry after a while, but it didn't leave me confused.

Besides, I wanted to think.

I paused at the edge of a old office building, watching the sun disappear behind the city's skyline. I couldn't help but feel some relief as the light stopped irritating my skin. It may not kill me, but I certainly wouldn't enjoy it. I wondered if I would ever be able to bask in the light as I once did. Well, for a little bit. Even before the locker, I burnt easily and peeled terribly.

I took a seat for a bit, enjoying the cool night air. My cell phone buzzed with the distinctive tones of a text message.

Sure, Dad didn't like me having it, but it was too useful. I didn't like them much myself, considering Mom died because she was distracted by her cell phone, but this was the only way people could contact me without having to go to my dad's phone first.

Mine.

I took it out of its place, protected by my armor, and took a look.

 _GG: Going to see a movie with Dean. An older Earth Aleph one, Jurassic Park. Want to pick up Ames and come with?_

I bit my lip and considered. Sure, why not?

 _SK: Sure, I'll join in. Where do we meet up?_

 _GG: Gathering at my place, then we'll drive to the theatre._

 _SK: Be there in a few._

I quickly called my dad and left him a message about my changed plans for the evening, then I started making my way toward Vicky and Amy's house. I decided to grin and bear the confusion of my bat form for this. It's not like the Dallons had packs of blood waiting for me to snack on, anyway.

 _Scatter flutter buzzing lights flickering sound headache itchy group with us more more more more_ I stopped and reformed on a rooftop, the repeating thought catching my attention. There were dozens of bats circling around me, screeching, calling, moving in a tornado of living animals.

I closed my eyes. I could _feel_ them. I couldn't sense exactly where they were or get much data from them, the information didn't seem to translate all that well, but I had _command_ over them.

I opened my eyes and stretched my hand out. They responded to my will, funnelling away from me in formation, forming into...holy crap, they were following my hand. They arranged themselves into grasping fingers. I could sense more of them out there, surrounding me. With a thought, I could have them join my swarm.

 _Disperse._ I thought. They let out screeches as they went into the night, reverting to their natural habits.

I grinned. I could use bats as a weapon. Or a distraction. Not to gather information or details, but they'd be damn useful if I needed to take on a group. Assuming I could gather enough on the way. I'd try not to use them for cannon fodder, but I wasn't going to deny myself a possible weapon, either.

If nothing else, I could scare the drugs right out of any Merchant who bothered me.

I resumed my journey toward the Dallon's house, reforming a street away in between two houses. I shifted my armor into my casual clothing and stepped out, my feet light as I came to their door.

I'd forgotten how _nice_ it was to have friends.

There was some rustling, and then the door opened. Behind it was an older woman, looking quite attractive, yet severe. She gave me a nod. "You must be Taylor. I'm Carol Dallon." Also known as Brandish. A woman who could think up glowing weapons that can cut nearly anything.

Note to self: Do not annoy the woman who can make a lightsaber in an instant.

I smiled a bit nervously. "Nice to meet you, Missus Dallon."

She nodded, then called. "Vicky, your friend is here!" She gave me a considering look, her eyes narrow. "Please, come in."

I walked inside, hearing a tv running in the living room. On the couch was Mark Dallon, Flashbang. He gave us a little wave before turning back to the television.

Like a lot of New Wave members, he had powers over light. In this case, to form blinding light and concussive force. Hence, Flashbang. Being able to throw an unlimited number of flashbang grenades would be a pretty damn good power, given the right creativity.

Least, that's what I could remember from PHO. Vicky and Amy seemed to be the odd ones out.

Speaking of, the two came down the stairs. "Hey Red!" Vicky chirped. Amy gave me a little wave and a smile.

I grinned. "Hey you two. Where's Dean?"

Vicky grinned in return. "On his way. Unlike us, he has to deal with traffic."

"You kids have fun." Mark called from the couch.

We headed outside and sat on the porch, Vicky hooked her hands, imitating claws. "Rawr, rawr! I'm told it's really good. It's nearly twenty years old over there now, but the work put into it's very good."

I chuckled. "I hope so. Can't be worse than either version of the Star Wars prequels."

Vicky shuddered.

Amy rose an eyebrow. "What? But I liked them. The way they told such an epic love story between..." She burst into giggles at our expressions. "Sorry, sorry. Couldn't finish that with a straight face."

Vicky shook her finger at Amy. "Had me worried you were being Mastered for a sec, Ames." She very gently slugged Amy's arm.

I grinned. "Good one."

She gave me a wink.

Dean pulled up in his car, then. Well, his parents' car, but he was driving it. Vicky hopped in the passenger seat, while Amy and I took the back. Vicky kissed Dean on the cheek.

I blinked as Amy's expression hardened for a moment. Then it was gone, and she looked a bit less enthusiastic about this whole thing. Jealous of Vicky having Dean for a boyfriend, maybe?

Dean gave me a wave. "Hey again, Taylor." Vicky's boyfriend, nice enough guy. He tried to not look directly at me, I noticed. Both when I plunked down with Amy after meeting the sisters and now. Maybe Vicky would be jealous of him looking at other girls? But...I'm kinda plain.

Meh. Their issues.

Dean started driving us, while Vicky chatted away in the front seat. I simply smiled to myself as I thought about how the day was going. Said hello to the Wards, having fun with friends, going to see a good movie. And...

Wait.

"Sorry Vicky, what was that?"

She sounded a little confused. "I said usually these double dates don't go so well."

Double...date?

...

You got this one, past self.

* * *

Powers unlocked:

Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once.


	16. Reclamation 2-7

So. I am apparently on a double-date. A _second_ double date, because I completely missed the fact Amy and I even had a first. Now, self, how do you feel about that?

Well, self, I am apparently unable to process the thought at the moment. Please call back and ask again another time. Help desk hours are between now and some time in the next eternity.

Amy looked at me, her eyes wide, and then she turned and glared at her sister. "You didn't say this was going to be a double date night, Vicky?"

No. No she did not. And yet...self, got anything yet?

Nope. Not yet. All lines are currently busy. I glanced at Amy, furrowing my brow. She seemed...more angry than anything. And I, I am sure, was busy doing a great impression of a deer in the headlights.

Dean glanced my way, winced, then looked back to the road. "Look, this can just be an outing with friends. Vicky's not trying to be mean here."

Vicky turned in her seat, looking embarrassed. "Look, sorry. It's just you two seemed to hit it off, and Ames has been on so many dates with nobody seeming to click. But you two did, or seemed to, anyway, so..."

Well. Awkward. Amy and I _do_ get along, and I liked her as a friend. But I wasn't really thinking deeper relationships for any of it. Was I so starved for friendship that I came across as a desperate dater? Or am I just simply utterly oblivious?

Apparently, the answer is yes.

I shook my head. "I'm not offended, and I don't really mind the idea..." Wait a sec. Self? What are you doing?

Well, self, apparently you just said you don't mind a same sex date. Which makes sense, because apparently, I don't. Apparently, self, you are open to dates from all comers with people you like. Which would have been nice to know before you found yourself on a date with someone.

Let's see, think. Muscles and his aegis. I mean, uh, Aegis and his muscles.

Like. Eye-candy goodness.

Alright. Clockblocker?

Like. Sense of humor. And it would be cathartic to smack him now and again. Gently, of course.

Not too bad. Armsmaster?

Nothing. Either he's too old or he's got too much armor on for me to think of him as a person. And he tended to clank a bit.

Okay. Miss Militia?

Like. I liked her as a person, she was gentle and caring, had badass credit and she filled out her fatigues nicely OH COME ON.

I hadn't thought of girls that way. At all. It was all boys before, when I thought of such things. But now, apparently, both were appealing in different ways. And now I was seriously considering both sides of things...

Dammit Dracul. If I find _one_ more thing, I'm _so_ picking up a bad novel to torment you with.

Well, I can think of worse troubles than an expanded dating pool. Alright Taylor. Here's the ones right in front of you. Dean?

Maybe I could like him if he managed to look at me straight. Vicky?

Pretty, friendly, and bubbly. She knew how to be a good friend, even if she hit relationships the same way she hit bad guys. With everything she's got. I can see that working, now that I'm actually thinking about it. Kinda. Sorta. Any bumps in the road would turn into huge dramas with Vicky. She probably wouldn't go for it, but that's not the point.

Amy?

I could see that too. Not so much on the hormonal thing, but definitely on the intellectual attraction thing. I liked her, she was nice, a bit shy. She felt like kindred to me.

Trouble is, I wasn't thinking of pairing up with anybody. Partly because I am an idiot, apparently. But more because it hadn't even occurred to me that _anyone_ might want to be more than friends with me. I was having trouble enough with Vicky and Amy as simple friends.

And Vicky and Amy are both staring at me. Why? Oh. Right. I hadn't finished.

"It's just things have been rough for me, so I wasn't really thinking of dating right now. It's not that I don't _want_ to date, it's just...a lot of things stacked up so it didn't occur to me." I managed to say a bit nervously. I gave Amy an embarrassed smile. "Sorry."

She looked...both relieved and disappointed? Huh. And now I felt like a heel.

Well, I'd feel more like one if I strung her along.

"Well!" Vicky chirped. "Let's just get to the movie and see dinosaurs stomp some squishy mortals!"

Amy made a smile at that. "Sounds good."

* * *

It must be said.

If I ever do go into Evil Overlord mode, I am getting a T-Rex fighting arena. And raptor minions to do my evil bidding. Or even regular bidding. Raptors, fetch my mail!

Hell, I might get them anyway. Sure, _real_ raptors were maybe about half that size and had feathers, but I'm just doing some hypothetical evil plotting, here!

"Well, that was fun!" Vicky said with enthusiasm as we walked out of the theatre.

"Oh, yeah. Damn good effects work for ninety-three." Dean said, his arm wrapped around Vicky. "You can still tell, but you can also tell they put so much work into it."

Vicky laughed. "Oh yeah. And the music, perfect! Da da DAH DAH DA!"

Amy winced a little, though she was still smiling. "Vicky, turn down your aura, please."

Aura? What aura?

Suddenly the few people around us got a bit less energetic, though still pleased by the movie.

Oh. Now I remembered. One of her secondary powers was to inspire allies and frighten enemies. At least according to PHO. And yet, I felt nothing. I hadn't even noticed anything about what I _should_ be sensing, according to the good folks of the internet. I know I'm oblivious sometimes (Exhibit A: What happened earlier today) but not _that_ oblivious.

But then, if I was, how would I know?

Well, I'm not complaining, but my powers were _bullshit._ What's next? I turn around, find Legend behind me, and he's been trying to blast me with lasers for twenty minutes without me noticing?

Yet another thing for me to test. Next time I see Gallant, I'll ask him to see if I can get him to hit me with a calming beam or something and see if I notice that. Because, well, if I can no-sell some Master effects, I've got less to worry about. Too bad Gallant wasn't here.

"Hey, Dean, Vicky, can you give Amy and I a minute? We need to chat a bit."

They looked at each other, then Vicky shrugged and smiled. "Sure Red. Take your time."

Amy looked a little hesitant as we went to the side of the theatre, near the car. "You're not about to declare your undying love for me, are you?"

I gave her an embarrassed smile. "Sorry if I got your hopes up."

She chuckled. "You didn't. It's more Vicky than anything else. She's taken me out to _so_ many double-dates that I've lost count. Not too many people I even liked. I'm fine with this just being a friends' night out, whatever my sister thinks. I don't tend to have very many friends. Having one of my own is fine." She smiled then. "And it was good to pull one over on her, for once. Thought you knew, though."

I made a small, helpless shrug. "I didn't. Didn't even consider it." I looked at my feet. "Just been a long time since I had friends. At all."

Amy nodded slowly, a small smile on her lips. "Well, you've got me. And Hurricane Victoria. Dean, I'm sure he'll be fine with you in time. Not sure what his issue is, exactly."

Something about her tone seemed off there. I figured it wasn't my business, though.

Well, it probably is, somehow, but I wasn't about to tie him up and interrogate him about it.

Oh dammit, stop it, brain! You keep providing those images! If you don't behave I'll stab you with a Q-Tip!

I put a smile on my face before I could drive myself up the wall. "Well, we'll make do. We good?" I held out my hand.

She smiled and shook it. "We're good." I twitched a bit as I felt my power react to hers again. The heck did that mean?

Amy noticed. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head. "Something about my powers responds to yours. Not sure what, exactly. It's prompting that I can...change, something."

She looked worried. "Change things? Like...changing me?"

I frowned, concentrated, then shook my head. "Seems to be focused on me. Still, kinda weird. You're a healer. Why would that make me think 'Mutability'?"

Amy's voice was faint. "Right." She shook herself. "We should get back."

Together we walked back to Vicky and Dean. Dean visibly braced himself before looking at me, and we shook hands. "Good to see you again, Taylor."

"You too, Dean." I gave Vicky a grin. "You guys have fun. I gotta get home. I'll head back on my own."

Vicky grinned. "Night Red. Thanks for coming out."

I watched the three get in Dean's (parents) car and drive away. I walked down the street, headed for an alleyway. Taking a quick look back and forth, sensing nobody, I turned into my bat form and started heading home.

 _Whirl flow updraft call signal brush wall fly upward twist sing PAIN_ I flashed out of my cloud of bats and rolled onto the sidewalk, holding my ears.

The world kept trembling under me. I struggled to get my feet under me, and it was with both great difficulty and the assistance of a nearby wall that I managed it.

A car went by me in silence. Oh, wait. A car went by me in an unchanging ringing. What the hell happened?

A growing blue light caught my attention. I turned and looked as an apartment building glowed blue, brighter, brighter, becoming nearly blinding. Then flashed into ice. I could see figures trapped within the suddenly frozen building, unmoving in poses of fear and panic.

I growled silently, charging forward, my hands bursting into my flaming claws. I slammed into an ice-covered window, shattering both ice and glass as I forced my way inside. Seeing the figure of a frozen man near me, I smashed at the ice covering him, being careful not to use so much strength that it would reduce him to a pulp.

I managed to free him from the ice, and he slid bonelessly to the ground. I extinguished my claws and checked his pulse.

Dead.

I snarled. The fact I could now hear myself again was of no comfort.

Someone was going to _pay_ for this.


	17. Interlude: Armsmaster, Madison

Colin paused the video. Rewound. Started it up again.

" _P-please, don't hurt anybody else! Please! I know what you are,-_

TRUTH

 _-please, kill me if you have to but leave everyone else alone!"_

Paused.

Not 'who' but 'what.'

"What do you think, Dragon?"

Her voice came over his earpiece. "Well, she's obviously terrified. But I noticed it too. She didn't know it was Taylor Hebert, but she recognized something about Scarlet Knight. Something that scared her to the point of offering her life. Which is another oddity. She didn't beg for _her_ life, but for others. As if she immediately knew she was doomed."

Colin nodded, unpausing the video and watching to the end. Then rewound. Started again.

" _I'm not here to kill anybody, Miss Clements."_

The screen flashing TRUTH was only somewhat reassuring.

Dragon's voice was thoughtful. "The whole interaction implies that Taylor and Madison had interacted before, with powers. And yet, the timeline doesn't fit for that. It's unlikely for Taylor to have had her trigger event before January. Because if she had, and gained her teleportation ability..."

Colin nodded. "She wouldn't have been trapped in the locker. And if she gained it _in_ the locker, she would have escaped. Which means she likely gained it when she...reanimated in the coffin."

Dragon's voice hummed in thought. He rather liked that sound. "Which seems to fit the evidence, but there's a few issues. Metabolic stasis and regeneration was our best explanation with a couple of hours thought. There's problems with this hypothesis, however. Her body was partially consumed by the many insects inside the locker when she was discovered on the eighth. And with these coroner reports...if the regeneration was slow enough to revive her, despite appearing dead, the embalming process couldn't have helped. With the toxic materials and all that, it should have killed her if she was simply in a state of hibernation."

"Unless her power makes her immune to toxic materials." Colin pointed out. "There are weirder powers out there."

"True." Dragon murmured. "But it's still concerning. There's something about the emerging pattern of her powers that doesn't fit the usual parahuman pattern. There have been other 'vampire' capes before, but usually with a single thing. Teleportation, or command over creatures, or blood manipulation, or shapeshifting. Scarlet Knight seems to have all of them and more emerging every few days."

Colin scratched his chin, considering. "A possible Trump, perhaps, and her subconscious is drawing upon the vampire theme? Even if she doesn't like it consciously, her powers might be somehow fitting it all together on the ideas on what vampires are so she's stuck with them."

"Possibly." Dragon sounded thoughtful. "Rather than her power giving her the abilities she wants or thinks she might need, it's stuffing abilities into the vampire archetype. The question would be then...why a vampire archetype and not something else?"

Colin nodded. "Why not a werewolf or an angel or demon? There's plenty of possible ways it could have expressed, if that's the case."

He rewound the video. Watched it again. "The interesting thing...Madison seemed to be a Tinker, at first, but there's nothing she's made so far that a clever engineer couldn't have made. And yet the effects...any headway on that amulet?"

Dragon sounded interested. "Nothing special so far, on analysis. Iron, silver, artificially created sapphires. It's a block, there's no circuitry. Not black-boxed. And yet it creates a field that heals injuries. Interestingly, it even works upon non-living things. I gave Madison a damaged ballistic vest to wear when she made the claim. Fixed to pristine in about three hours."

"More like Dauntless than myself." Colin mused. "But something useful, regardless. I'll get the paperwork started on allowing her to build more elaborate things."

Then the building shook.

* * *

Madison turned and twisted, the metal chain swinging around her in all directions.

It felt...right. Instinctive. Like she'd been using combat whips for her entire life. Her balance was thrown off slightly by the fact it was just a chain, and not that shining perfect weapon in her mind, but it _worked._ She knew that the weapon, when complete, would be _perfection_ itself.

What was difficult was pulling off the various techniques she could see in her mind. She just didn't have the muscle, the stamina, or the flexibility to pull them off. She couldn't backflip, swing from a hook, do a spring-jump off a wall and could just _barely_ roll properly.

But she was getting better. And her Light Magic amulet healed her wounds rather quickly. She could train to the point of breaking every day and be ready to go for the next one.

Had to, just in case. She knew she had gained her power in preparation for something. The whip she was still forging was key to that. But not the only key. The other key was the other half of it.

Taylor.

She remembered the sheer terror on seeing the other girl, before even the reveal of her identity. Her subconscious _knew_ that the girl in red was host to a terror that would happily raze entire countries for its own amusement.

And yet Taylor didn't.

Taylor was _angry_ , sure. But something about Madison's mind expected blood and death, not an icy conversation. A desperate battle to the death, which would have gone badly, considering Madison was unarmed, unarmored and out of fighting shape.

The power Taylor held belonged to a complete monster. Madison knew that in her bones. And yet it hadn't twisted Taylor into one. Hopefully it wouldn't. She really, really hoped so. A Lady of Darkness who was dedicated to balance rather than destruction could, quite possibly, help heal the world.

But one who followed in her progenitor's footsteps would be, while possible to stop, another bringer of destruction and death.

Earth Bet already had enough of those.

Balance. Light and Dark. Both on a common cause. Something in the back of her mind found that hilarious, but it would _work._

But it was something else that niggled her. A main task that she had no idea how to complete. Not to slay the Lady of Darkness, no. Madison would do that only if there were no other option, and _that_ would only occur if Taylor brought the unfettered legions of Hell to Earth Bet as her conquering army. Even then, Madison was sure that killing Taylor would be a sacrifice play. She wouldn't be walking away at the end of it.

No, it was something else. The light within her heart seemed to be searching for something. Or someone. It was important, more important than anything else. Something about her was evaluating every person she met. And always the same answer.

Unworthy.

Unworthy.

Unworthy.

Even looking at herself in the mirror. The sense she got was the same.

Unworthy.

What Madison had was a pale reflection, a single ray of light cast upon her by a burning sun. It gave her gifts because of her repentance and responsibility, but certainly not because it believed she deserved everything it could offer. She knew if she ever did anything unworthy of the chance it granted her to repent of her misdeeds, the light within her heart would abandon her.

And yet...The sun that was the source of that light was searching for something _more_ than her.

What could that be?

Madison twirled the chain up, wrapping it into a coil and put it on her belt, letting out a breath.

She needed to get back to work. The designs for the armor and equipment in her head weren't going to build themselves. Madison grinned to herself.

She couldn't _wait_ to move like in her mind. She would _love_ to do the impossible.

Then the building shook.


	18. Siege 3-1

I went through the building, one apartment after another. Desperately trying to save the frozen figures inside.

Out of a hundred and fifty people or so that lived inside, I managed to extract only three alive from the ice. And they only because they'd happened to be three people sharing the same bed. They'd been frozen to each other rather than all on their own, and it bought them just enough time for me to free them alive.

Though the damage the cold did to their extremities was horrific. I hoped Amy would be able to help them.

I spent just enough time to make sure the emergency services arrived, checking over the bodies I'd freed from their icy prisons to try and help. Maybe I'd managed to save more than I thought. I didn't know. Couldn't know. I didn't have the training or expertise. All I could do is make it easier for the arriving paramedics.

And every body that I freed from the ice made me angrier and angrier. I don't know how long I spent doing it. It took me less than a minute to free a person from the ice, but I knew that each minute I spent would mean it would be less likely for the next one to be savable.

And my soul broke a little more every time I found another frozen child.

Help was sparse. Only two ambulances pulled up.

"What's going on?" I asked the first driver.

He grimaced. "Weird bombs going off all over town. Everybody's scrambling everywhere, we just don't have the manpower."

I growled and nodded. "Fine. I managed to clear away a lot of the ice, freed everyone. I don't know how many can be saved." My hands shook with the difficulty of controlling myself.

Another boom echoed, a pillar of fire spraying into the sky.

I no longer cared who saw me. I flashed into bats and raced there.

* * *

I reformed on a rooftop. Below me was a full-fledged riot. Men and women wearing the colors of the ABB, They were throwing molotov cocktails and grenades at the PRT building. Thankfully, the building was on lockdown, the metal shutters at the front doors resisting the initial assault. I could see Miss Militia and Armsmaster on the roof. Miss Militia was firing down at the crowd, her power shaping tear gas grenades and launcher.

Still, there were a lot of people, and some of them had come prepared, wearing gas masks. They continued the attack.

Armsmaster reached to his belt, and then a third figure appeared on the roof. A man wearing a demonic mask, knives in hand. Oni Lee. He slashed at the Protectorate Hero, who just barely managed to dodge backward. Miss Militia changed targets and weapons, firing at Oni Lee with a machine gun.

Oni Lee took several hits, then went down. Two seconds later, he burst into ash.

He appeared on the roof again, pulling a pin on a grenade and moving to tackle Armsmaster. Armsmaster was ready this time, though, swinging out with his halberd and knocking Oni Lee off the side of the building. He hit the ground. Then exploded, hurting or killing the members of the ABB he landed near.

Then he reappeared again, near me. He made a jolt of surprise. I lashed out with my Shadow Whip, and he pulled a pin on his grenade. The whip smacked his hand, sending the grenade up in the air. It detonated, shrapnel spreading in all directions. Some hit me, some hit him. He burst into ash.

I, however, now had grenade fragments lodged in my chest. _That_ hurt. But, thankfully, didn't disable. I concentrated, forcing my armor to shape itself to help pull the grenade bits out of my flesh.

Alright, think. He was getting to the rooftop to attack Miss Militia and Armsmaster with his power. From the look of things, he could teleport further than me, and he could use his ash-clones or whatever the term was to make an infinite number of grenades. He'd have to get lucky just once to kill one of us.

Simple solution, then. At least, cut off his options. Most teleporters needed to see where they were going. I didn't, but then, I was weird, and had my own limitations. So I _reached_ out, calling to the bats of Brockton Bay.

They began to gather, congregating above me, nearly invisible in the night, and hard to hear with the screams and cries of the violence below. But that didn't matter. I could sense them. Dozens at first. Then swelling to hundreds. Then a few thousand. Not every bat in the city, but more than enough for this.

I sent the command. Instead of attacking outright, they moved in a funnelling tornado, blocking off the PRT building from view. I sent them high and low, creating a barrier of bats that lashed out at those who'd try to approach. It wasn't perfect, but it just might help. I transformed into bats myself, momentarily joining my swarm before I reformed on the edge of the PRT building's rooftop, well away from Miss Militia and Armsmaster.

Vampire or not, being shot sucks.

They turned as they saw me. Armsmaster nodded. Miss Militia had turned her gun on me, but then pointed the barrel of her machine gun at the sky as she recognized me. I walked over, keeping on guard myself. Oni Lee might get in if there was a gap in the swarm of bats, and I couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be one.

"This your doing?!" Miss Milita shouted. It was difficult to hear her over the bats' screeching.

"Yeah! It'll buy us a bit of time! The hell's happening!?"

Miss Milita turned, trying to see through the funnel of bats. "Best guess, they're trying to spring Lung! The bombs are the work of an ABB Tinker, Bakuda!"

Bakuda. I had a name.

I wondered how the ABB got this many people on their side, but that was a question that could wait. An explosion went off outside the swarm, and my bats shrieked in agony, flinging themselves away from the sheer _noise_. I could command them, still, but they couldn't follow my orders very well while disoriented.

The swarm thinned, and Oni Lee appeared again, holding a metal box. He hit a switch on it, dropped it to the ground, then lunged at Miss Militia with a knife. She shot him, he collapsed, and dissolved to ash.

The box made a high pitched whine.

Not good.

I grabbed Miss Militia and teleported across the street, wincing as I heard her shriek of distress in my ear.

I turned to make the return trip and get Armsmaster. But he jumped off the side of the building, his halberd throwing out its blade, attached by a line. His halberd doubled as a bloody grappling hook!? It easily embedded into the side of the building we stood upon, turning his dive into a swing.

Then Bakuda's bomb detonated. The top floor of the PRT building turned to glass.

So did Armsmaster's legs, all the way up to mid-thigh, caught just on the edge of the effect. To his credit, he didn't lose his grip on the halberd. He made the swing, staying above the heads of the ABB below him. It looked like he'd manage to make it to safety.

At least, until he hit the wall and his glassed legs shattered with the impact. Then he fell to the ground below. Some of the ABB members came near, hefting improvised weapons to finish the wounded hero off.

I jumped off the building and landed between the approaching gang members and Armsmaster, the Void Sword springing into existence. They pulled away at the sudden emergence of a cape with a light-devouring, life-stealing sword. Good instincts.

Didn't hurt that Miss Militia was busily firing into the crowd. Some went down, but didn't die. Limitless rubber bullets, rather helpful sometimes. Also had less chance of a ricochet injuring me or Armsmaster. That gave us just enough room for me to breathe.

I took Armsmaster's shoulder with my free hand, teleporting us both back to the rooftop. He let out a grunt of pain, the shattered remnants of his legs stained crimson with blood.

And it was making me hungry. _Bad_ timing, there.

I looked to Miss Militia. Her eyes were hard. "We have to cauterize the wound, or he'll be dead in minutes."

I bit my lip, and grimaced as I felt my fangs actually pierce my skin. With a gesture, I called as many bats as I could to surround our new perch, just in case Oni Lee decided to finish us off. Then I looked to Miss Militia. "I can do that, but we need to cut away as much of his armor around there as we can."

She nodded, her power shaping an absurdly sharp knife. She cut, and cut, managing to remove the damaged armor panelling from the affected area.

I grimaced, brought out my flaming claws, and grasped the ends of the bloodied stumps.

Armsmaster's scream echoed even over the bats' screeching. I winced, but kept up the grisly work, searing the horrific wound shut. The smell of burned human flesh made me both nauseous and hungry. I _really_ hated these instincts, sometimes.

I got to my feet, taking a breath. I looked to Miss Militia, a low growl in my voice. "We need to deal with Lee."

She nodded resolutely. "He's difficult to deal with." The weapon in her hands shifted into a flamethrower. "Need to get him in the instant before he teleports somewhere else."

The moment before the Lee we're fighting with goes suicide-bomber. I considered. "Got any ideas?"

She considered for a moment. I could hear the evil grin in her voice. "I got one." The weapon shifted again, turning into a tear gas launcher once more. She began firing it indiscriminately, and white mist began boiling upward. My bats didn't seem to object to it too much, so it wasn't tear gas. It simply seemed to be smoke.

"Cut down his visibility!" Miss Militia said, seeing my expression.

I nodded in understanding. Then I grinned, calling out to the swarm of bats.

 _Hunt._

They shrieked in response, hunting for a target that kept appearing and changing to ash. They found him in the crowd, trying to find a way into the PRT headquarters and quickly mobbed him. I flashed into my bat form myself, enduring the confusion for the brief moment it took for me to land next to him and punch him with a bare fist. He grunted, rolling onto the ground.

With a bat on his face, screeching and trying to attack his eyes through his mask, Oni Lee couldn't manage his unique brand of teleporting. He reached for a knife with one hand and a grenade with the other.

I swung my hand, the Void Sword flashing into existence mid-stroke, and cut both his arms off at the elbow. He screamed in agony.

I approached him carefully, looking at his severed arms. When they didn't crumble to ash, I reached up, gripped his mask, the bat still clinging to it, and crushed the eyeholes shut with my fingers. Then I broke his knees, one after the other with my left hand.

I was tempted to move in, rip his neck open and drain his life's blood. I chose not to. I wish I could say it's because I valued the sanctity of life, even his. Truth was, I was enraged, and I wanted to spend _all_ of that rage on the target of my choice: Bakuda.

I was going to _revel_ in taking every _drop_ of her life's blood.

I looked up, seeing the absolutely terrified features of the gang members near me, though most of the crowd was hidden by Miss Militia's smoke.

I grinned, hefting the Void Sword. I knew my eyes were glowing, and I knew I looked like a demon from hell. "Leave." I growled. "Or I'm going to get _mean._ "

A few broke and ran. A few others raised their weapons, mostly those with guns, a few with chains and baseball bats.

Well. I couldn't have that.

I thrust my empty hand toward the crowd, and the bats responded, shrieking, crying out for blood. The bats dove down right in front of me, turning into a tidal wave of living weapons, biting, clawing, harassing. They started chasing the remaining gang members, not working to attack or kill, but to drive them off. I had them let up on anyone who hit the ground and tried to simply endure, but they'd chase those who ran for more than a mile.

I yelled, my voice drowned by the bats. But it felt right, anyway.

" _ **This is my city! You idiots are no longer welcome here!"**_

Too bad not too many of them would hear it.

Still, for now, the PRT building was secure. We'd take Oni Lee into custody. But there was a lot more for me to do.

I was going to _end_ Bakuda.


	19. Siege 3-2

There was surprisingly little damage to the PRT building. Aside from, of course, the now-glass uppermost floor and roof. Thankfully, it was designed to withstand a siege, at least for a while. It was the only reason Oni Lee hadn't managed to get inside and free Lung from the holding cells. That, and they may have been unwilling to use one of the more dangerous bombs closer to Lung.

Their leader wouldn't be much good to them dead, after all.

Armsmaster groaned in agony behind me. Miss Militia looked at me, worry in her eyes.

I shook my head. "The gang's scattered, for now. But he needs help from an expert."

She nodded. "Can you get him inside the front doors?"

I grimaced. I _still_ hated the idea of heading in there. But my issues weren't as important as someone's life. "I'll get him inside. And Oni Lee." I said, albeit reluctantly. I spared a glance to where the man lay on the grass, his arms separated from the rest of him. He was twitching feebly, helplessly, unable to even teleport anywhere with his mask blinding him. Even if he did, he wouldn't be much threat.

Miss Militia touched her radio. "This is Miss Militia. I'm outside with Scarlet Knight and Armsmaster. He is wounded, he'll need a medical team immediately. Bring them to the front entrance. Oni Lee as well, but he will be coming second."

" _Understood. Is it safe to end the lockdown?"_

I shook my head. Could be stragglers, could be something left behind. It didn't matter to me, anyway. My fears aside.

Miss Militia nodded at that. She knew enough of the situation to get it. "Negative, there may be ordinance left behind and live. Scarlet Knight will transport Armsmaster inside."

" _Understood. Medical team enroute."_

I took a deep breath. This was going to suck.

I took Armsmaster's shoulder in hand, trying not to move him much as I teleported from the rooftop to the street. I grimaced as I looked at the closed shutters, felt for the space I needed, and teleported past the shutters.

The containment foam nozzles didn't activate, thankfully. I know it wasn't exactly a rational fear, but try telling my subconscious that.

I'm _still_ planning on punching any hypothetical cape that can make lockers, coffins, or elevators. And I'd like to see anybody who went through what a I did without sharing that sentiment. I will tip my hat to them. Right after punching them.

Well, tip my helmet. I don't exactly have a huge hat collection. The punching thing I'm doing, though.

The med team came down the hall, getting to Armsmaster and quickly checking him over.

I spoke quickly. "I'm going to retrieve Oni Lee. He'll need medical attention as well, but ready the countermeasures for him. Just in case."

Privately, I kinda hoped he'd struggle as I brought him in. Give me a reason to hurt him more. I knew that was a very Dracul-style thought, but I didn't care. I was too pissed off to care about the influence he had on me at the moment. These assholes were participating in a campaign that left dead kids.

They were downright lucky I wasn't impaling them on lampposts as a demonstration. There were only two reasons I didn't.

One was that the PRT would likely sign a kill order on me the moment the crisis was over.

The second was knowing the tatters of my humanity would be gone if I did. I might be a monster in nature, but I still had my mind and soul. The bit of me that was _me_ was like my mother's flute. Damaged, broken, twisted and tarnished, but still present, still recognizable, still precious. Despite everything I'd gone through, I recovered enough of myself to not be a monster to everyone else.

Instead, I was going to be a monster to _specific_ people. Not too much of an improvement, but I could live with that.

Case in point. I teleported outside to retrieve Oni Lee. He was still blinded by the crushed remnants of his mask, unable to remove it with his arms cut off, and unable to run or even stumble away with his knees broken. All he could do was crawl slowly, pathetically, moving slower and weaker with every passing moment, as he lost blood from the remnants of his arms.

I should probably look into getting restraints if I was going to play good guy. Right now, though? Too busy. Too angry.

I stepped in front of him, summoning the Void Sword and driving the end of the blade into the ground in his path. He paused as he felt the cold radiating from the blade, his feeble crawling halting.

"Hello Oni Lee." I spoke quietly. "Now, you've been a real pain in the ass for everyone. I know you've got plenty of victims. I'm sure if a friend of mine were here, he'd tell me all about them."

I leaned down, letting the cold fury fill my voice. "But you're not going to meet him today. No, Oni Lee. You're going to the Birdcage, if they don't just stick a needle in your neck. The only question is, are you going there _with_ or _without_ your balls?"

He breathed for a moment, hesitating. Fearful. I leaned down, ignited my burning claws, and seared the stumps of his arms.

He screamed, and then began babbling.

* * *

Oni Lee had a bit of a reputation for being emotionless. I suppose I managed to crack through that persona and get at the juicy, helpless mortal at his center. Then I dropped him off for the paramedics to both treat and sedate for his future. After a quick briefing with Director Piggot, I headed around to try and keep my head on straight. And focussed.

If he were anyone else, I might have felt a bit sorry for him. Considering he'd been trying to kill Miss Militia and Armsmaster, though, I wasn't exactly feeling charitable. And he _had_ killed plenty of the PRT workers in the top floor of the building.

I thought about this as I tapped the now-glass part of the uppermost floor of the building. It was rather odd to see an entire helipad, roof access, and elevator turned into clear glass. Looking down the elevator shaft, I could see the elevator's car halfway down the shaft, held in place by the emergency brakes.

Guess whomever designed the thing hadn't considered the possibility of the steel cables holding it turning into glass. Rather understandable, really. Transmutation of matter was likely not one of the subjects covered in engineering school.

Less odd and more _I'm going to visit PAIN on a little Tinker bitch_ was the figures of people, PRT workers who were on the top floor when the thing changed. Their glass statues stood there, frozen in a moment of panic.

Remember how I said my powers were bullshit? Well, I take it back. _Tinkers_ are bullshit. I might be a goddamn vampire, but being able to build a elemental transmutation bomb out of what was probably parts from a wrecked refrigerator...yeah, that's on a whole other level of bullshit.

And no, don't bring logic into this!

I took a moment to look down at the few figures left below. The bodies of those killed in the siege. Mostly ABB members, done in by their own grenades and explosives. I...felt nothing at their deaths.

I didn't think the ABB had this many in their ranks, though. How did they-

Some of the bodies in the street exploded. Others twisted, turning into inhuman shapes. Disturbingly, some of those were _still_ alive. Still others froze, turned to glass, or imploded, doing horrific damage to the street.

 _The bitch put bombs into her own men._ I couldn't fathom it.

That neatly explained the ones who stayed and fought, though. Between almost-certain death attacking me, and definitely certain death running away, they stayed. Then I unleashed the bats, and they were doomed either way.

And also explained why there were so damn _many_ of them here. They weren't all gang members. Those ones are the ones who ran and stayed alive. The rest were _conscripts._ Conscripts who died the moment Bakuda learned of their failed assault.

I formed the Void Sword in my hand, letting the cold, icy rage smooth out my otherwise broiling anger. Instead, it shifted to methodical, planning, _sharp._ It didn't make things any less powerful for me to handle, but I did, at least, manage to focus.

Just when I think I've got a handle on how _pissed_ I am, it gets worse.

I teleported my way down through the roof and reached the undamaged part of the PRT building. I paused a moment to let the automated systems scan me, then I headed to see Miss Militia and Armsmaster in the infirmary. The place was well-stocked. It wasn't exactly The Rig, which was the Protectorate Headquarters for the city, but it was equipped as well as any modern hospital. Just as well, too. I could get to The Rig in my bat form, but I wouldn't be able to teleport any nearby wounded inside.

Then again, it being a converted oil rig, there wouldn't be any nearby wounded.

Just outside the infirmary, I stopped a moment, took a deep breath, and dismissed the sword. No need to make things even worse.

Miss Militia stood next to Armsmaster, the latter lying in his bed. Unfortunately, the man had no other options. I glanced down at the stumps of his legs, the burns _I_ caused covered with bandages and slathered with disinfectant. Cauterization wasn't an easy thing to get right, and something done in desperation. The pair sighed. Well, Miss Militia sighed. Armsmaster just slightly relaxed in his bed. It was hard to talk with bandages over your face, part of the result of his impact with the wall.

"I got some information out of Oni Lee." I said. "Already reported it to Piggot. Bakuda's buried deep somewhere. She's sending her bombs to a depot, picked up and used from there, but her workshop's well-hidden."

Armsmaster's eyes looked at me, but he didn't speak.

A television came on its own. A rather plain computer generated face looked at us. I gave a small smile. "Hello, Dragon."

She nodded in acknowledgement. "How is Armsmaster?"

He put a thumbs-up. "On the bad part, I can't feel my legs. But I feel _great._ You gotta try this stuff!" He looked at me, then frowned. "Well, maybe when you're older."

Miss Militia rolled her eyes. "That's the morphine talking. He'll be okay. It's going to take a while for him to walk again, even with Panacea."

Dragon's avatar nodded again. "I've got some ideas about that, but that can wait. I just got word from Director Costa-Brown. A kill order has been authorized for Bakuda." She spoke in her synthesized voice.

It took a _lot_ to keep me from jumping with joy at that declaration.

"What's the plan of attack?" I asked.

Dragon hesitated, then spoke. "I'm sorry Scarlet Knight, but we can't share that information with you. You've been an invaluable help, but regulations prevent me from letting you join in on the assault on Bakuda. For your safety, we have to ask you to remain here."

I clenched my fists. "I am _not_ going to sit here and let this bitch tear my city apart, Dragon."

Miss Militia chimed in. "Please. Think about what it would do to your father if you were killed out there."

That brought me up short, like a bucket of ice water poured on me. I grimaced, taking a deep breath and shuddering. "It'd kill him." To lose me again? He'd collapse on the spot. I let out a growl. "Damn it."

* * *

I sat in an office, thinking to myself. Well, first I'd spent about an hour knocking down cubicles.

Stupid claustrophobia.

Now I sat in a rather _open_ office, thinking. I wanted to get out there. Kill Bakuda. The bits of Dracul in my head enthusiastically agreed.

But I couldn't hurt my dad again.

I looked up as someone entered my field of view. Painfully. Neptune and his silvery armor hurt my eyes. Like the sun irritated my skin and eyes. I gave him a wave, and he nodded back. He brought out his phone and quickly tapped away for a moment.

" _Are you all right?"_ The phone spoke in a far-less human voice than Dragon's.

I made a small shrug. "Hate sitting around, feeling useless."

He nodded, tapping away. _"_ _Know the feeling. What's happening is overwhelming. Heading out in ten."_

I made a small smile. "Right. I'd wish you luck, but if we had any, we wouldn't have this mess. So...be careful, hm?" I tried to look at him straight-on. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn't place it. And it was hard to tell, with my eyes watering just at the sight of him.

He nodded a little, frowning a bit. Seeming to ponder. Then his phone chimed, he tapped on it. _"_ _Thank you. Watch yourself, Little Owl."_ He then turned and left.

I nodded a little. It took a minute before I realized what he'd called me.

Little Owl.

What Mom called me.

What the hell?

Then my own phone chimed. I took a look.

 _AllSeeingEye: Got information on bomber, girl-with-bats. Meet at Captain's Hill?_

I took a minute to ponder.

Fuck it.

 _SK: On my way._


	20. Siege 3-3

I reformed from my cloud of bats near Captain's Hill. I took a moment to breathe, enjoying the night air. I took a moment to turn, seeing what I could of the city.

Despite what I'd hoped, the city was reeling. I could see fires spreading throughout a number of buildings, a few others transmuted or just...gone. It was no wonder Bakuda managed to siege the PRT building, she'd set all this as a distraction for it. While the Protectorate was out trying to deal with bombs and save civilians, and the police and fire department trying to contain the damage, they turned what would have been a suicidal plan into a somewhat practical one.

Tactics. I'll give her that, she was pretty good at them.

I looked up the hill. The light was faint, but I didn't have much trouble seeing them, anyway. Vampire senses or just good night vision? Didn't really matter, I guess.

They were the same group who were attempting to escape from Lung that night. The boy in black, the girl with the dog mask, and the girl in purple. The girl with the dog mask held three leashes in her hands, with three van-sized demonic looking dogs lying at her feet.

I approached slowly. The dogs whimpered and whined as I neared. The blonde in purple gave a formal bow.

"Thank you for coming, my dark queen." She said.

I wasn't as taken by surprise this time. But I still blinked, thinking a moment before I spoke. "You're missing someone."

She bit her lip, shuffling her feet. "Regent wouldn't come. Something about not wanting to be anywhere near the cape who punched out a rage-dragon."

I made a small smirk. "Meaning he's hiding in the bushes, just in case I turn out to be hostile and you need to try to make a backup plan to run the hell away from me."

The girl in purple blinked, then grinned. "Because that's what you'd do, facing an unknown if you had backup and support." She paused. Then paled. "Oh, crap!"

I grinned. Glory Girl dropped out of the sky and landed next to me, holding Regent in her arms in a bridal carry. She set Regent on the ground, not being all that gentle. He scrambled away from us.

"You're crazy, you're crazy!" He said as he scrambled away from us, Vicky grinning almost cruelly. I simply stayed impassive. Well, as impassive as I could be while fighting to keep a grin off my face.

Vicky cracked her knuckles. "I suggest you all start talking. Bakuda used a freeze-bomb right at the hospital entrance. If my sister had been caught in it, she'd be dead and _you_ would be _wishing_ you were. Even as it is, she has to spend _all_ goddamn day to heal everyone she can. So _spill!_ "

Darkness suddenly enveloped us, and I reached out to grip Vicky's arm. She hadn't moved, being as prepared for the moment as I was. We'd expected them to try and bugger out.

"Drop the darkness." I called out. I couldn't even hear myself, but I was willing to bet the cape who was generating it could. Powers were weird that way. "We are not here to fight, or take you in. But we _both_ want the information you claim to have. And you can't get away from us unless we _let_ you. You now have five seconds. Four. Three."

The darkness evaporated, and now the four were sitting atop those monstrous dogs. Which were whimpering and cowering. It was a bit odd to see a dog the size of a van cowering away from me, but hey. I'm not going to complain. I noticed with some amusement Regent was sitting behind the girl in purple, trying to make himself as small as possible. I made a smile. "Good. Now that we're done posturing. I am the Scarlet Knight, and I'm sure you're familiar with Glory Girl."

The girl in purple nodded, her voice a bit faint. "I'm Tattletale, that's Grue." She gestured to the man in black. Then gestured over her shoulder. "Guess you know Regent. And Bitch. We're the Undersiders." She nodded at the girl with the dog mask. Who was now staring at me. I returned the stare, unblinking.

I let my smile grow as she tried to stare me down. Tattletale frantically waved her hands. "Bitch, that's a _bad_ idea!"

Bitch opened her mouth. "Angelica-"

I let out a snarl, putting in every _bit_ of anger I had into it. The result didn't sound remotely human.

Bitch froze. Vicky stared at me. The rest of the group shrank back a little. The dogs' ears flattened and they let out a whimper.

"Stay." Bitch finally finished.

"Now," I said. "Business, shall we?"

* * *

"Alright." Grue spoke, now that the Undersiders were standing on the ground again. "We're small-time. We hit other gangs, do small jobs, get what we're going for and get out. Other villains in the city are worse, by a lot, but they don't like rocking the boat much. It ain't exactly peaceful, but even the E88 are more businessmen than fanatics. Fanatics can't hold back, they get put down. Businessmen survive."

"And Bakuda's real bad for business." Tattletale nodded. "We had a job lined up for Tuesday, but Bakuda's rampage here has thrown everything out the window. The major villains in the city are meeting under a flag of truce tomorrow night. No powers, no violence, nothing. They're pooling in resources to protect themselves and share information as to where Bakuda's holed up."

I nodded slowly. "Makes sense. So where do we come in?"

Grue looked between me and Vicky, his body language a bit hesitant. It was hard to tell more than that with his skull-helmet on. "Frankly, it's more you than Glory Girl." He held up his hands as Vicky bristled. "Look. New Wave are known heroes. They're not Protectorate, but the villains of the city and elsewhere expect certain things of them. You, on the other hand, are _terrifying._ Since you showed up, there's been rumors of a monster cape that eats people. And you've got respect. You took out Lung. You can exploit that."

I blinked. Then blinked again.

Okay. Good point.

Tattletale spoke then. "And there's a problem. Keep going the way you are, and they'll try and knock you off sooner or later. You might be able to handle it, but others around you might not. Show up at the meeting, you become something they can comprehend, negotiate with. Make the right impression, and they'll not want to touch you."

I thought it over, then nodded. The logic...made a familiar sense to me. Warlords of the past operated that way, too. I looked to Vicky. "I'll join in the meeting. You okay running backup?"

She looked conflicted. Then she nodded. "Long as I get to help at the part where we bust in Bakuda's head for making my sister's life harder."

I nodded, then turned to Tattletale. "Where's the meeting?"

She let out a tense breath. "A little dive bar called Somer's Rock. It's neutral ground. Here's what you need to know."

* * *

We'd spent the day preparing. I needed information, the Undersiders needed someone on the outside they could be on decent terms with. Though I had the feeling Tattletale wanted more from me than just a contact on the outside.

Libraries and schools were shut down, so most of my research happened over my phone. It wasn't exactly comprehensive, but at least I could recognize the city's major players at a glance.

I looked up at the entrance to the bar, took a deep breath.

 _Here goes nothing.  
_  
I strode in the door, radiating my anger. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind the bar, I saw just what I'd hoped. Eyes a solid red, no iris, no pupil, and glowing hellishly. I had the Void Sword manifested, resting across my back, radiating a chill around me while also focussing my emotions. Good, I'd entered both how I wanted and how Tattletale had suggested. It also didn't hurt that Vicky was outside, watching. She knew the signal.

If the place gets set on fire, make an entrance. Preferably through the wall.

" _Gotta make a good entrance. Underneath everything, these guys are thugs. Thugs respect one thing: Power."_

I spotted three of the Undersiders sitting at a table. Nearby, perhaps _too_ nearby by Tattletale's expression, sat Skidmark, Mush, and Squealer of the Merchants, occupying a booth and looking sullen. The bottom-feeders of Brockton Bay's gangs, drug addicts and dealers. Even with my hunger, I shuddered at the thought of even thinking about feeding from any of their rank carcasses. Or being on the same continent.

In the center of the room, at the head of a long table sat Kaiser. The head of the Empire Eighty-Eight, the neo-Nazis of Brockton Bay. His metal armor was shaped by his power, both as a testament of his strength and control. Even without Tattletale's briefing, I knew who he was by reputation.

At his side stood Fenja and Menja, both _very_ attractive women in Valkyrie-styled armor. Further behind Kaiser was Purity, who I'd heard had gone solo. The light shining from her hurt, more than the sun itself did. I funnelled the pain and irritation of it into the Void, allowing it to continue building that cold, methodical rage.

On the opposite end of the table sat a man I'd already planned on ending, for his role in the cover-up of my death. Coil. He was tall, rail thin, and bony. He had no escort near him, either a show of foolishness or confidence. Likely, _his_ backup wasn't obvious.

Between Coil and Kaiser sat Grue, as well as a raven-haired woman wearing a welding mask. I didn't recognize who she was supposed to be. Next to Grue sat a man dressed in a Baron Samedi motif. Not-Samedi had his feet up on the table. Toward the back were others, but they were sitting in chairs, close enough to listen, but too far to be deemed important.

Something about this whole situation seemed _right._ Even as I knew I'd have been utterly lost not too long ago. Dracul, then. I bet he'd attended a lot of meetings like this one, sitting where Kaiser was right now.

Everyone's attention turned my way as I entered. I didn't hesitate as I focussed my gaze upon Kaiser.

"Who are you to dare enter uninvited?" He said cooly, though I could hear the underlying threat.

I didn't waver.

 _Look at the petty king, thinking himself equal to the Dragon._

Shut up, Dracul.

I grinned, allowing my fangs to show. "I am the Scarlet Knight. I am the one who defeated Lung. I broke the siege of the PRT building, sending their thugs screaming into the night. I cut off Oni Lee's arms, and made him cry out every little secret he had. And I want Bakuda's _blood._ "

Kaiser sat for a long moment, searching my features. Then he nodded slowly. "Leave your weapon, and have a seat. Neither powers nor violence will be tolerated."

I slowly drew the Void Sword from my back, placing it against the wall. It was still linked with me, and I could summon it back to my hand in an instant, but they didn't know that. Having it present also helped me keep that cold, deadly focus I needed, anyway. "Anyone attempts to take my blade, and they will _wish_ I killed them."

Nods slowly went around the room. I simply kept the majority of my attention on Kaiser.

"The fuck is this shit!" Skidmark exclaimed. "You send me to sit at a kid's table like a chump while you let this little shit join up!? I hold territory, I hold power, and this is just a whole lot of fucking shit you fucking racist piece of-"

"Are you finished?" I said coldly, not even looking at him.

"The fuck are you on about, you little piece of-"

I shot him a look. He visibly paled, especially as I allowed something of my hunger to show. "If you're going to act like a child, perhaps I should spank you and send you to your room, hm?"

I could feel some amusement spread around the room. Glad to know everyone could bond over the contempt for the Merchants.

I went to the table and took a seat next to Coil. Partially to needle the man, partially to learn what I could. I had no doubt he was doing the same thing, anyway.

All right Taylor, you're now sitting at a table with the city's biggest and worst supervillains. You've earned enough respect to not be thrown out on your ear, and you've managed to make an impression on the biggest and possibly most dangerous cape in the city.

Glad to know you can fake your way into looking like you know what the hell you're doing.


	21. Siege 3-4

So. Coil at my left, Kaiser way over there on my right, and various villains or mercenaries around. My backup was sitting around outside, waiting for the place to catch on fire. I didn't have any intention of actually setting the place on fire, but I was fairly certain if I had to, things would be _really_ bad for my immediate future.

I had no illusions. I knew I was strong, but I also knew I wouldn't be able to match all the firepower in the room. Even if I somehow did, I couldn't handle the retribution later. At least, not on my own.

Whatever that lingering bit of ego I got from Dracul.

Still, this was a point where the inherited instincts I got from the vampire god were coming in handy. Just somewhat wish I could remember more than impressions of how he handled things. I say 'somewhat' because then I'm pretty sure I'd remember a whole lot of other things, too. Like murdering scores of people. Not something I wanted bouncing around in my head.

Annoying vagueness aside, there is such a thing as _too much_ detail.

Had enough problems with the vague parts, sometimes.

Coil looked me over. "Are you certain you want a hero here, Kaiser? How did she even learn of this meeting?"

I returned the stare, looking at him cooly. "How many stretch limos go to a bar while a city is under terrorist attack, Coil? I have given my word to be civil, here. I don't really care to be categorized. I'm not going to pretend to be just like any of you. But my main concern is _ending_ Bakuda, not taking her in. I'm not here to play our little games." I let my smile grow predatory. "After that, well, we'll see how things are."

Kaiser, if anything, seemed amused. "As long as the knight here remains civil, so can we. And it may be useful to have a neutral party to bring information to the Protectorate. Are you willing to speak for them?"

I shook my head. "For myself. I live here, and I'd rather enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. Bakuda is a rather _loud_ and _disruptive_ bitch. I am not going to tolerate a murderer of children in my city. I won't sell anything I learn of _you_ to anyone. I. Want. _Bakuda_." I dragged my fingertips across the table. The act left gouges.

Oops. Too much pressure.

A number of villains, including Kaiser, nodded at that, even as they winced at the sound of ripping wood. Purity especially, I noticed. These guys may be thugs, criminals, and some of them no doubt willing to do terrible things to get things done. But even they had standards, however few, and I'd pressed right on the point.

Coil hadn't nodded, I noticed. He'd need a different strategy to handle. If he was really Coil at all, and not a body-double or something.

And that made me wonder if anyone here was really who they appeared to be, besides Purity.

Kaiser looked around the room. "First of all, we are here to discuss the ABB. This campaign of theirs is reckless. Under ordinary circumstances, I would be content to sit back and watch them self-destruct. However, the work Bakuda is undertaking has done severe damage to our businesses and infrastructure. She's bombed schools, clubs, and Brockton General. She also destroyed three office buildings and inflicted severe damage to several apartment buildings. Our best guess at the death toll right now is four hundred, with at least three times that wounded."

Coil nodded. "For the moment, I propose a truce between ourselves and with the law. We hold our territory, defend our own against attack, and protect our businesses. Until Bakuda is killed or captured, and the ABB disbanded, none of us move against each other. We share intelligence with ourselves and, should we find out where Bakuda is holed up, we give that data to the Protectorate." He paused a moment. I got the feeling he was smiling beneath that snake-like mask. "No sense in taking unnecessary risks. The gang members and conscripts will be worn out quickly enough as it is."

"Acceptable." Kaiser said. "Now, does anyone have any information as to where Bakuda is?"

Not-Samedi held up his hand.

Coil nodded at him. "Trickster."

"Our group, the Travelers, were heading through the docks district yesterday, before all this started. We caught sight of some of the ABB driving a van toward the corner of York and Woolwich. We didn't think anything of it until they just vanished. One second there, the next, gone."

I licked my lip and considered. Teleporting trick? Or something else, perhaps?

Coil stroked the front of his mask, likely trying to rub his chin through it. "There isn't much out there, now that Lung's burned down half the district." He sat for a moment, thinking. "Ah. Now I understand. She's hiding inside a pocket dimension. Material goes in one way, she creates the bombs, drops them off elsewhere to be used. All the while being safe. Clever."

The depot Oni Lee talked about. Which the Protectorate was likely trying to hit right now.

Kaiser tilted his head. "Dimensional technology is not Bakuda's speciality."

"True." Coil murmured. "However, it _is_ something of a speciality of Toybox's Tinkers, and they aren't that difficult to get word to with the right connections. And as a Tinker, Bakuda would have quite some interest in that. If nothing else, they can provide supplies that might be useful. And while the ABB is not all that rich, if she spent a significant amount of her resources, that could be enough to buy a pocket dimension."

Kaiser nodded at that. "So the question is how does one hack their way into a pocket dimension?"

Coil looked around the room. Nobody stepped forward. "I suppose we will have to check our own connections for that." A bit of wry amusement passed around the room.

The woman wearing the welding mask leaned forward. "We are mercenaries. As much as I detest what the ABB are doing right now, we may be found on opposite sides if they hire us. Being open for opportunities is the only way we can get by."

"Stay after the meeting, Faultline. We'll discuss an arrangement." Kaiser said.

Grue spoke up then. "We'll work reconnaissance. Sooner or later, Bakuda will need fresh supplies, food if nothing else. We haven't got much, but we do have ears on the ground."

I made a rather bloodthirsty grin. I didn't have to fake that. "And I shall explore my own avenues. She's pissed off a _lot_ of people. Someone's bound to be willing to talk."

Kaiser nodded. "Very well. Everyone to business." He rose to his feet, gesturing for Faultline to come with him. They went and took a booth in the back.

I rose to my feet, moving toward the Void Sword. Coil gently touched my gauntlet. "Please, wait outside a moment. I wish to speak with you."

I gave him a nod, taking my blade back in hand and pressing it to my back, over my cloak. It held in its place by my will. Handy. Not that I'd normally need it, but much of this was misdirection. I stepped outside, breathing the clear air.

The night was still full, but it would be morning soon. Had it only been a day since I was watching a movie with Amy and Vicky? These guys move _fast_ when pressed. I just met with the Undersiders yesterday.

I'd have to keep that in mind when it came time for me to take these people apart. They've been a cancer in my city for far too long.

My city. When did I start thinking of it as my city? Well, nevermind that, that's not important. I was fairly sure that everyone would be better off with me leading things, officially or not, than having Kaiser and Coil fighting to control everything.

I knew my dad was worrying with me running around, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I wasn't about to just stand by and watch people die. I'd just have to be careful not to take any stupid risks while dealing with Bakuda.

I gave the Merchant's leaders a facade of complete indifference as they came out. Skidmark moved right up to me.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, shitstain?" Yeesh. His breath reeked. I was half-tempted to look behind me and see if any birds fell out of the sky because of that smell.

I tilted my head. "I believe I am your better. And considering you named yourself 'Shitstain' I'd suggest you be on your way before _I_ decide you need to be neutered to calm down." I gently tapped the hilt of the Void Sword.

He lunged at me, a faint pressure telling me he was using his power to do...something. Probably to try and enhance his shove. His power was to make fields of force, attraction or repulsion, but he had the ability to layer them to enhance their effectiveness. I caught his fist with my left hand, dissipating the energy he was trying to put into the move. Then I picked him up by the neck, one-handed, and threw him away from me. Skidmark went flying through the air about ten feet before landing in the mud.

Squealer and Mush helped him to his feet, hollering. Skidmark slaked some of the mud off himself. "You little bitch! I'm going to-"

" _You_ will do nothing, Shitstain, except leave. You have wasted my time and wasted the oxygen of the people of this fine establishment. The _only_ reason you still have your head is because I don't want to sully my blade with your blood." I growled. I then shifted my gaze to Squealer. "You can do _far_ better than him. I suggest you look into a new lifestyle."

Squealer snarled at me. "We don't have to take this from you!"

I simply stayed impassive. "Your choice. I am done with you."

The three Merchant leaders staggered off. I turned to see Coil standing next to the door to the bar, looking at me intently.

I made a small shrug. "He pissed me off."

Coil made a small chuckle. "His very existence does, for many of us. I've been looking into your activities with some interest, my dear. I must admit I didn't expect someone who's been working with the Protectorate to just walk into a meeting with the local villains as if she owned the place and take a seat for herself."

"Bakuda needs to be stopped." I tilted my head. "I'm willing to be civil when the situation calls for it. I'd rather see this city prosper more than anything, but first there needs to _be_ a city. If it keeps going like this, there might not be."

Coil nodded. "In that case, would you consider working for me? I have Brockton Bay's best interests in mind. The anarchy of how things are right now is temporary. Once things are more calm, the factions will move against each other. Someone with your talents might find a great deal of wealth and influence here, and I would like to offer you that opportunity."

A job offer? Seriously? The man who helped cover up my murder and recruited my murderer using that as blackmail material is offering _me_ a job? If he knows who I am, then that takes such a _huge_ amount of chutzpah. If he doesn't know, then his reputation's overblown.

So why offer?

Ah. Better to keep an eye on me, either to keep me from being a threat or to turn me into an asset.

I licked my lips. "Allow me to consider my options, hm? I'd rather not make a snap decision while the city just may explode around us."

A small laugh came from under his mask. "Very well." He reached into a pocket and held out a card. Supervillains have calling cards? Huh. Learn something new every day. "Let me know when you change your mind."

'When.' Not 'if.' Cocky bastard.

I strode away from the bar, moved far enough to not be in immediate sight, then burst into bats. I handled the confusion long enough to get to Vicky's hiding spot. She'd taken a place roughly half a mile away, on a porch. She was sitting on a lawn chair, looking bored.

"Nice to see you were paying close attention." I said dryly.

She shrugged and grinned. "Fire? Kinda obvious. I'd have flung my way over there the second I saw smoke. Beyond that, this is the only spot I could find that wasn't suspicious."

I nodded slowly. "Okay, good point. You know anyone who can poke at pocket dimensions? The villains seem to think Bakuda's hiding in one that Toybox provided."

Vicky shook her head. "Maybe Myrddin could, but I don't know of anyone offhand."

I grimaced. "Well, damn. I think we should take a look at the entry point I heard. Might be something. Corner of York and Woolwich."

Vicky grinned, getting to her feet. "Good. Race ya!"

She rocketed off into the sky. I shook my head, smiled, and followed in my bat form.

* * *

So we arrived at the corner, Vicky and I looked around. It wasn't exactly remarkable, being a blackened street corner surrounded on all sides by burned out buildings. Place looked a fair bit different after Lung got finished with it.

"So what are we looking for?" Vicky said.

I shrugged. "No idea. Where do you go to find a hole in dimensions, anyway?"

She rolled her eyes. I looked up and down the street, frowning a bit. There had to be _something._

Needed to find it. If we didn't, we gave Bakuda that much more time to kill _more_ people. Had to find that hole in...

I was tingling.

Vicky looked at me. "Uh...Red? Your hair's turning white."

I blinked. I took a bit of it from where it came out the back of my helmet, bringing it in front of my eyes. The tingling intensified. I focussed my will on that tingling sensation, and my hair returned to its normal, dark color.

"Well. Guess my power's messing with me. Not really helpful, though." I said with faint humor.

Vicky cracked a smile. "Yeah, well, too bad it's not helping us get to the crazy little bomber bitch. You sure you can't just rip a gate open or something? I half expect it from you by now, little miss bloodsucker."

"Course I can't just-"

And my mind filled with an idea, a tiny echo of the vampire god. Just enough of a hint to make me stop dead in my tracks. Just like that, I had an idea of how I just might be able to reach where Bakuda was hiding.

Just one problem. I had to go back into Winslow.

Vicky's mouth dropped open, seeing my expression. "You _got_ something, don't you? You know grab-bag capes aren't supposed to keep going back for seconds and thirds at the power buffet table!"

Oh goddamn it.


	22. Siege 3-5

I trembled as I looked up.

Winslow High. The place of my torture. The place where I died. I had few good memories of the place. Mrs. Knott was about where it started and ended. The rest were all memories of fear and torment.

The place was silent and still. No cars in the parking lot. No sign anyone was inside. That was, perhaps, the one silver lining of Bakuda's rampage. Nobody would see us go in.

"You okay?" Vicky said, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

I took a deep shuddering breath, shaking my head. "Not really. Just...a lot of bad memories, here."

I didn't know if this was going to work. Still, I had to try. The vision of frozen bodies floated in my mind, and the sight of kids snap-frozen to death in their beds kindled that rage that had kept me going for so long, now.

But it was breaking before my fear. I knew it wasn't rational, but I didn't care. The memory was _too strong_ for me to push aside. Sophia wasn't here to torment me, she was locked in a cell. Emma wasn't here to attack my mind, she was also in a cell in _New York,_ and Madison was at the PRT, probably hiding under a desk or something.

I turned and put my back against the fence that surrounded Winslow, looking out into the street and trying to calm myself. Even in the early morning light, with nobody arriving, this place sent me right back to the headspace of a bullied kid just trying to survive each day.

I took on _Lung_ and I can't go inside my own school. How sad is that?

Vicky gently gripped my shoulder. "It's alright, Red. We can just report in. We'll take it slow."

That was probably a good idea. I took out my phone and used the phone's memory to get right to the PRT line. When it picked up, I took another deep breath, to try and not sound shaken up.

" _Due to the current crisis, all our lines are currently busy. If this is an emergency, press 1 now. If it is not, please press 2 to leave a message."_

I considered for a moment, then pressed one. It could be important enough to need priority. If the Protectorate doesn't know that Bakuda's likely hiding in a pocket dimension, they could tear the entire city apart looking for her and not find her.

The phone rang for a moment, then a voice picked up. _"_ _PRT emergency line."_

"This is the Scarlet Knight. I just got some intelligence from the local villains. They have reason to believe Bakuda's hiding in a pocket dimension, using that as her workshop."

" _You're certain of this information?"_

"Got it right from them."

" _Please wait one moment while I redirect you to Director Piggot."_

I ground my teeth. Bureaucracy was a definite pain sometimes. Often. I gave Vicky a long-suffering expression, and she shrugged. "They need to update that tune."

Then my phone clicked. Director Piggot's voice echoed. _"_ _You have intelligence for us, Scarlet Knight?"_

I sighed. "The local villains called a meeting because of Bakuda and the ABB. One of them, Trickster, said he saw an ABB van disappear at the corner of York and Woolwich. Coil said that Bakuda was using a pocket dimension as her workshop, and just dropped off the bombs at the depot Oni Lee knew about."

There was silence for a moment as she digested that. _"_ _You infiltrated a villain meeting? That was very, very foolish."_

I let out a growl. "I didn't sneak in, I walked right in. I also had backup in case things went sour. They didn't care, they're more concerned with covering their own asses while this is going on. Odds are good they'll send someone _other_ than me to propose a cease-fire between themselves and you until this crap is over with. What's important is if Bakuda's hiding in a dimensional pocket, we can can't reach her unless we find a way inside."

Piggot was silent for a moment. _"_ _Then we may need to contact Toybox to enter. Not too difficult, but may take some time. They don't exactly leave a consistent address."_

I nodded. She couldn't see that, but, well, it's hard to break a habit. "I may have another way to get inside, but it's uncertain. Glory Girl and I will try to make the attempt. It's a long shot, but if it works, we can end this today."

" _What are you planning, Knight?"_

I chuckled. "Probably something very stupid, Director. I make no guarantee this will work. I'll call back when I have word." I hung up before she could respond, taking a deep breath and looking to Vicky.

She smiled softly. "Once more unto the breach?"

I looked up at Winslow, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Once more."

Hopefully, for the last time. I was tired of being afraid of this place.

I went up the walkway toward the front doors, every footstep feeling leaden. If my heart had been beating, it would have been going a mile a minute. As it was, I could feel my veins thrumming, giving that race of fear that my heart no longer could do. It was foolish, maybe, but this place had been my own personal Hell for a year and a half.

And it had killed me.

We reached the doors, and Vicky tried to pull it open. It didn't give. Locked solid.

"Oh well. We can't get in, we need to try another day." I said nervously. I began to step away.

Vicky shrugged and pulled it open with a squeal of tearing metal.

I blinked, looking at her with trepidation. Damn it, Vicky. Rob me of the excuse of a locked door.

She gave me a grin. "They can bill me, later. This is more important than a door. Both for you _and_ everyone else. Come on, Red. I'm here for you."

I slowly walked inside, Vicky staying right behind me, hand on my shoulder. I took in the sights of the familiar halls. We passed by the metal detectors, their illustrious career cut short in about two days, as the gangs sabotaged them faster than Winslow could repair them. We passed by the gang signs spraypainted onto the walls, E88 in red, ABB in green, and Merchants in whatever color they could scrounge up at the time.

I'd hoped I would be able to open the path just inside the front doors, but I felt nothing coming in.

There was Mr. Gladly's classroom, where he spent more time trying to be the good, popular teacher than actually doing his job teaching. And Mrs. Knott's classroom, which had been my only refuge as far as getting my work done.

We came to the stairs leading to the second floor. They seemed to stretch on forever, mountainous and huge. I knew what was waiting for me at the end of this little trip, and I felt weak. I trembled and shuddered, feeling the fear tighten my chest. Carefully, slowly, I forced myself forward, heading up to the second floor with absolutely zero enthusiasm.

"You can do this, Red." Vicky encouraged.

I moved my way down the hall, coming up to the place of my nightmares. The place where I died.

It didn't look like anything special. It had been cleaned, refurbished. There wasn't any trace of the scent that lingered in my nightmare. Even The Locker's door was new. I gently put my hand on it, every muscle in my body trembling.

I could feel a resonance here, something that called to me, but I was trembling so hard I barely noticed it. I felt my unbeating heart squeeze, and I pulled away in panic, slamming into the lockers on the opposite side of the hall. I slid to the floor, gasping for air, sobs coming from my throat.

Vicky sat next to me, hugging me against her as I cried. I leaned against her, slamming my hand into the floor, leaving cracks on the floor.

"I can't do it, I can't." I managed to say between my sobs.

Vicky gently stroked my shoulder. "I didn't realize you were _that_ Taylor, Red. I'm sorry. I read about it after you were...found, in there. Your...trigger happened in there, didn't it?"

I shuddered, managing a small nod. I couldn't see through the tears flowing from my eyes.

Vicky sucked in a breath, her hair rustling as she shook her head. "I should have guessed when you said Winslow. Damn. I'm an idiot."

I managed a hysterical little giggle. "Me too, for thinking I could do this, Vicky. I'm sorry."

She hugged me tighter. "Nothing to apologize for, Red." She sighed, clucking her tongue. "I told you about my trigger, but I didn't tell you _everything_ about it." She lifted her head, looking at the locker before us. "I won't pretend it was anywhere near yours, Red. But I didn't trigger just cause I got fouled."

I wiped my eyes, taking a look at her. It was difficult to see through the tears, but Vicky looked rather distant as she spoke. "It was a lot of things happening at once for me, you see. Dean was in the crowd, and so was Mom, Dad, Ames, my aunt, my cousins. They'd all gained powers before I had. I'd been dealing with this...crushing disappointment. There were scouts in the crowd, too, for the Women's Basketball League. If we'd won the game, I'd have a good shot at getting a scholarship. All my hopes were on that game. We'd win, I'd go to college, get away from home. Move with Dean, have a room for Ames."

She shook her head. "See...my dad struggles with depression. Mom loves me, but she doesn't _trust_ me. She doesn't trust anybody. I had damn near zero freedom at home. Only in this last year when I get home after spending time with friends, do I _not_ get an interrogation on everything. And...the way she looks at Amy sometimes, it's not any good. When I was a kid, I didn't see it, I was just the precious little princess. But now I see how she treats us. Mom wants to control my life, but she also wants Amy to be more than she can ever be. I get a B on a test, it goes on the fridge. Amy gets an A? It gets tucked away. I get a sports trophy? Displayed on the mantle. Amy gets first place in a science fair? Her medal gets thrown in a box."

Vicky squeezed my shoulder, gently kneading the tense muscles beneath my armor. "That game? It was my best hope to get away from all that. Ames needs somewhere away from home to grow, but Mom would never let her go on her own. Before I had powers, she never let _me_ go anywhere on my own. When it was at the last few seconds and I got fouled, the pressure was on. All on me. All I had to do was make the free-throws. I'd done it a hundred times before in practice, easily. But I messed up. First throw bounced right off the rim. Game over. All my hopes and dreams crushed in that moment. I felt I'd never get to leave home." She made a tiny, bitter laugh. "Kinda true, there. Can't split up the New Wave, can we?"

I breathed slowly, listening, slowly calming. It helped to listen with my eyes closed. Finally I spoke. "Geez, Vicky. I never guessed that you guys were in such trouble, there."

I could feel her shrug. "It ain't easy, Red. After a while, we just deal, cause we got no other choice. Don't get me wrong, my parents mean well, but they have their own issues. Dad isn't there much, even when he is, and Mom cares, but she just can't bring herself to be vulnerable to anybody. It makes her a good lawyer, but...I'm not blind to the troubles it brings up."

I nodded, mulling things over. "What about the rest of New Wave?"

Vicky chuckled. "My aunt's family is a fair bit healthier when it comes to all that. Aunt Sarah's got her own problems, mind, but she's managed to work through them. It ain't perfect, nobody's family is, but they're doing better than we are as a whole. What people see? Most of it's PR, Red. Behind it all, we're normal people with bigger problems. The powers just amplify things. Good and bad."

I slowly opened my eyes, looking at The Locker door in front of me. It seemed to loom like an immense monolith, larger than the rest of the whole of Brockton Bay put together. And yet I remembered how suffocating and small it was inside.

Funny how your memory messes with your perception.

I spoke slowly, haltingly, my throat thick with emotion. "My bullies had been tormenting me for a year and a half. One of them had been my best friend, once, but she turned on me. I never learned why. Still don't. I went from being...okay, to just surviving every day in this place. They made me miserable, hurt me, took my things...destroyed what was precious to me. One of them, probably my former friend, took my mother's flute, one of the last things I have of her, and smashed it, dented it, and fouled it with something horrid, then let me find it on top of a dumpster. When I went to get a bag to contain it, they took it away from me again. She probably tossed it into the bay, where I found it."

I traced my fingers over the new crack in the floor, taking my time to sort through my thoughts. "Then we had the winter holidays. I dreaded coming back here, the anticipation of what they were going to do was as bad...maybe worse, than what they actually did. But the whole week went by and they didn't do anything. I began to let myself hope they'd grown bored...and then I came here, on Friday afternoon, and smelled something horrific."

I looked at Vicky, whose face was filled with both sympathy and horror. "They'd taken garbage from the girl's bathroom. Used tampons, other refuse. Let it fester, then dumped it all in. When I'd opened it to see what they'd done, I saw spiders, creatures, all over in there, making it their nest. The smell, you couldn't believe. I puked...and then I was pushed inside, the door slammed shut behind me, and the two of them _laughing_ as they walked away."

I wiped my cheeks as I looked back at The Locker again, swallowing hard. "I was in there for hours. Crying, pleading, begging for help from anyone who might come by. There wasn't anybody. Nobody cared, nobody noticed, or nobody wanted to cross my bullies."

Now that I was here, the memory seemed to unfurl in my mind.

 _ **My rage is cold enough to freeze Hell itself. My hatred is hot enough to sear every world that nestled in the heavens.**_

 _ **My power is enough to reshape a world to my designs. I have the will to see it through.**_

 _ **If it takes me an eternity, you will pay! I have already struck the blow that shall murder all of you, one after another, until every last of you monsters has been wiped from the heavens! I see your true selves, abominations, and before you find oblivion, you shall**_ _ **beg**_ _ **for mercy!**_

 _ **You have entrapped my soul, abomination, but I have driven my poisoned knife into your back.**_

 _And my heart stopped as Dracul's power filled me, searing the connection the titan's power tried to make with me, my consciousness fading into blissful oblivion._

I let out a gasp, my eyes wide.

"Red, you alright!?" Vicky gently prodded me in the side. She looked angry. Horribly, terribly angry.

I nodded slowly. "Just...remembered a bit more of the moment. The moment I died." I shuddered. "Then I was in my dreams, bathing in blood. Next thing I remember, I woke up in my coffin. As I am."

Eventually, Vicky sighed. "Did they get them? The ones who did this to you, Red?"

I smiled slightly, weakly. "Yeah. The two who did this, they're arrested. The last...I gave her one chance to redeem herself. She hasn't fucked it up yet."

Vicky chuckled, barely audible. "Well, that's something at least. You okay?"

I shook my head. "No. But...that doesn't really matter." I looked at The Locker before me. "I'm really, really tired, Vicky. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of remembering this place. I'm tired of being haunted by all this." Unsteadily, I got to my feet, advancing on The Locker, swallowing my fear.

I tried my old combination, and it didn't work. Of course, a new door, a new lock. So I punched it, tearing through the metal door and ripped it off.

It was empty of the refuse of my nightmares, only had a few notebooks and things inside from some other student. But I could _feel_ it. Something else there. That resonance. I left a part of my soul here when I died. It was time for me to take it back.

I wouldn't let them win over me forever.

I put my hand out into the space in The Locker, feeling the air. I closed my eyes, focussing on the power Dracul had given me, which had entered me and changed me on this spot.

Warmth spread from my hand, and I opened my eyes. My hand was now engulfed in a solid black darkness, and on the other side of it I could feel a warm breeze. I grasped the substance of the darkness, pulling it out into the hall, and willing it to expand. It grew outward, becoming a black gate.

"Now that's cool." Vicky said from over my shoulder.

I shot her a grin, however weak it was. "Yeah. Wish I didn't have to come back here to figure out how to do it, though. Want to see my vampire castle?"

She laughed. "Oh, yeah. I gotta see this."

We linked arms and walked in.

* * *

A/N: Powers Unlocked:

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow.


	23. Siege 3-6

"Whoa." Vicky said.

"Damn right." I said.

We were standing atop an immense chain, linking one tower to some ancient wall. From here, we could see what surrounded the castle. An immense forest carpeted the ground below us, but beyond that was an infinite black plain. The wind whipped through the air, the snow falling around us lightly, just enough to annoy but not enough to actually be threatening. The sky twinkled with innumerable stars, but there was an unreal quality to them. The stars themselves were mostly a memory.

We turned around, and took a good look at this side of the mountain. Castlevania itself rose above us, every bit as large as it had been when I visited in my dreams. To the right lay the placid lake where I had met Death that first time, and to the left rose the gothic spires, eventually reaching the mountain's peak, above which rose the keep that held the throne room. It certainly wasn't the largest mountain in the world, but the place was immense.

Vicky spoke, her voice filled with awe. "Holy shit, Red. You could fit everyone in Brockton Bay here and have room to spare. Hell, you could fit everyone in New York here. And probably L.A, too. Your power gave you this?"

I nodded, chuckling softly. "I've been dreaming of this place since Winslow. On some level, I knew it existed, but I wasn't sure how to get here for real. Or bring others in."

Vicky grinned. "Well, you figured it out. I'm still calling bullshit on your powers, though. Now that we're here, though, what's the plan to reach Bakuda?"

"That...I know we _can_ from here, but the how escapes me, exactly. My powers don't come with an instruction manual. From what little I can grasp, though, this castle exists on a different world than our Earth. From here, you can go _anywhere_ , as long as you know where you're going. Or where you want to go."

Vicky frowned. "This place is like Earth Aleph?"

"Not at all like Earth Aleph, my dear Miss Dallon." A new voice said. I couldn't help it, I smiled. "Earth Aleph is a world within your multiverse. This is a _plane_ and is both less and more than that." I turned and grinned.

Death hovered there, once again in a male form, rubbing his chin through his white beard. He wore a wide, pleased smile on his face and he bowed to me. "My lady, welcome home."

I laughed softly. "Not exactly home yet, but I do feel welcome at least. It's good to see you again."

Vicky blinked. "Umm...nice to see a friendly face here, but who are you?"

Death gently took her hand and kissed the back of it, seeming amused. "I have many names, my dear. My true name is something you could not pronounce nor comprehend. But most simply call me Death, when I meet them."

Vicky looked dubious. "You're not what I expected."

I rolled my eyes. "I said the same thing."

Death grinned, took a step back and shifted. Now, he was a floating skeleton, clad in a tattered black robe, scythe resting on one shoulder. "AH, MY DEAR. EXPECTATIONS ARE A RATHER TRIFLING THING. THEY SHIFT GREATLY, DEPENDING ON HOW ONE VIEWS ME."

Vicky jerked back, yanking her hand back and clutching it closely. "Holy fucking crap. I touched the Grim Reaper I'm gonna die and leave Amy alone and find myself somewhere I didn't want to end up and OH GOD I TOUCHED THE GRIM REAPER!"

I couldn't help it. I laughed. "Vicky, calm down! He's not going to kill you."

She took a deep, gasping breath, her eyes wide. "He's not?"

Death cackled. Vicky shrank back, before Death shifted again, this time appearing in the first form I met it in, a girl wearing goth clothes. "Nope! My job isn't to kill people, Victoria. Only here can I even do that, but even then, only when the Lord of Darkness permits. When someone or something dies, I take their souls to where they belong. Sometimes that means a heaven or a hell. Or a place like this, to be reshaped and reborn. Other times it means reincarnation or oblivion. There are as many afterlives as there are stars in the sky, and few are exactly what people expect of them." She grinned. "Your myths are rather off, there. A teensy bit of truth wrapped in so much falsehood that it makes no difference."

Vicky's mouth worked for a moment, then she shook her head. "So why call you Death if you don't kill people?"

Death smiled, almost annoyingly perky. "Simple. If I didn't exist, or if something prevented me from taking someone, they would live forever in a body that is falling apart and dying. The suffering of such a being would be ever-increasing and terrible beyond your comprehension. Though, sadly, there are those for whom I can't reach. You know of some, I'm sure."

I shuddered. "Gray Boy's victims, you mean?"

Death nodded slowly at that. "Among others. They will, _eventually_ , die, their suffering ended. But without interference, _that_ will occur long after I harvest your sun." She looked profoundly sad at that.

Vicky's mouth dropped. "Wait. _Stars_ have souls?"

Death shifted back to its male form, his voice now kindly. "There are few things that do not have souls, my dear. The lives and minds of stars and planets are long and vast, but simple. They are utterly unaware of beings such as yourselves. In some ways, the soul of a small insect is far more fascinating than a star's soul. For the insect, however simple, makes choices. A star, however brightly it burns, is as I am outside of this realm. With no choice at all."

I rose an eyebrow. "This is neat, Death, but we can talk about it later. We've got to find a way to reach Bakuda."

He nodded, a faint, vicious smile coming to his lips. "Ah, yes. Her. I will be _quite_ pleased to reap her soul. You _can_ reach her from here, my dear. But first you will need to reach the Portal Room. If you attempt to open one here, you will arrive somewhere on your world at random. You must anchor one on this side."

I grimaced. "Great. And where's the Portal Room? Because Castlevania here is huge, and we could wander it for years from the look of it."

Death chuckled. "You are the Lady of the Castle, my dear. Ask it to make you a path, and you shall have a path. Be aware, however, some things will activate and not be safe along the way. My old friend had his flaws, his ego among them, and he never truly believed there would be a successor to his throne. Many of Castlevania's servants will allow you to pass without incident, but there are defenses which would only yield to him. But first, I would suggest walking along this path."

He gestured to the chain, leading to the nearby crumbling tower, which was in turn linked to a large section of the castle itself.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Death smiled. "There's someone you should meet."

* * *

"So..." Vicky said as she hovered alongside me. "You've been dreaming of this place? So you kinda made it when we walked in?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm pretty sure it really exists. I think. It's pretty weird. But I've found some things here that I've used in reality. My sword, my blood manipulation powers..."

"Yeah, but, it's not really real then, is it?" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "That's just your conception of Death back there. Cause there's _no_ way the real one's that nice."

I stopped my stomping along the chain, looking at her. "No, I didn't make him up, Vicky."

"Nah-uh. Don't believe you, Taylor. That was _very_ convincing, and I believed it for a second, but no way. You made him up, and now we're trawling through your own personal pocket universe shaped by your mind. That makes totally more sense than meeting the _actual_ Grim Reaper."

I paused, letting out a long-suffering sigh. Denial mode. Great. "This place wasn't mine to start with, Vicky. I inherited it. Still don't know _how_ but I have an inkling on why."

"So you inherited a castle nobody's seen before that's so huge it'd be visible from space, that just happened to be hidden inside a universe nobody's ever heard of, and you think that's _less_ likely than you making this place up? All right, fine. Not going to argue." She shook her head and started floating forward again. "Are we there yet?" Vicky asked.

"Nope." I said.

"When are we going to be there?" She whined.

"You tell me, you're the one flying." I said with irritation. I didn't want to try using my bat form in this wind. "What's with you, anyway?"

"Oh, you know. I just want to see what kind of apartment your power gave you. It's your head, after all. Can I call a big room? Maybe a suite? You think we can get good wi-fi here?" She floated alongside me, grinning.

"I highly doubt there's wi-fi here, Vicky." What was she...

Oh.

I stopped. "You're trying to distract me from what happened back at the school, huh?"

Her face grew serious, but she nodded. "Yeah. You looked pretty rough. Figured if I could annoy you into anger, you wouldn't be miserable. Since I'm trying to throw some cheer your way and you don't seem to notice, not sure what else I can do. I don't _like_ being a low-grade Master, but I don't want you to wallow, either."

Right. Her aura that I don't seem to notice.

I shot her a smile. "Thanks, Vicky. I appreciate it." I nodded at the tower ahead. "Once we get up there, I want to run a little experiment."

"Oh, good. Just up there? Hang on!"

She grabbed my arms and flew us over there, even as I let out a shriek of protest. It wasn't that far a flight, but I was _not_ used to seeing nothing but empty air beneath my feet. She dropped me off right at one of the tower's entrances, and I gave her a mock-glare as she landed next to me. "There. Now we can go inside, where it's warm. Ish. And you can ask me to try that little experiment."

I shook my head as she grinned. "You're evil." I accused.

"Yep!"

We walked in. Inside the tower were guest rooms, opulent by medieval standards. Just about somewhat comfortable by middle-class ones. We stopped in one, and I turned to Vicky. "Okay. Your aura thing? Doesn't seem to effect me. At all. We need to see if you _can_ at all. If not, at least I'm immune to you, and _maybe_ immune to other Master effects. At least on the same lines."

Vicky looked thoughtful, then nodded. "Right. All right, it's got a few modes, but fear's easy. I'll shut it off if it gets too much for you."

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "Fire away."

Vicky concentrated. Nothing happened.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Nope."

She furrowed her brow. "How about now?"

"Nope again."

Vicky shrugged. "All right, full blast."

I waited. I brushed a bit of dust off my shoulder. "Nothing."

A howl echoed down the hall, along with the sound of a horde of running feet. We looked at each other, blinked, then went to follow.

The corridor stretched before us, and Vicky darted ahead. I flowed along the floor as fast as I could, hearing the sound of a nightmarish fight happening ahead. I burst into a large golden ballroom (how, there wasn't room for this on the outside of the tower?) and found red flying demon spitting fireballs at a large white wolf.

Vicky oriented herself in the air, landing between the pair, cracking the ballroom floor with the impact. The demon seemed to be taken aback at this, then it roared at Vicky.

Vicky yelled back. "Back off, ugly! Your momma's fat, too!"

It lunged at her, launching a fireball her way. She simply weathered it, and when the demon was in range, she hit it with a punch. It was almost comical how the demon suddenly reversed direction, slamming into the marble wall with a resounding crack. It slumped to the floor, dizzily trying to rise.

I stepped down the stairs, summoning the Shadow Whip in my hand. Advancing on the demon, I let out a low growl. "Stand down, you little bastard, or I'll cleave you in two."

It took one look at me, roared, and charged, flames spitting from its mouth. I flowed around the burning heat, slashing the Shadow Whip out, causing it to roar in pain and flinch away from me. Its eyes grew wide, and it flapped its wings, trying to get away.

Unfortunately, it had forgotten about the wolf. The white wolf tackled it from behind, bringing it down to the floor, gripping the demon's neck between its jaws and violently ripping the flesh away. The demon struggled, choked, and flailed, trying in vain to free itself as its steaming blood flowed out of the grievous wounds, before it lay still. The wolf hopped off the demon's body as it burst into flames.

He stopped to lick at the blood on the floor, panting. Vicky and I exchanged a glance.

"Okay. This is weird. Nice castle, Red." Vicky said.

That got the wolf's attention. It looked up at both of us, his eyes assessing with intelligence. He then focused his gaze on me.

No, on the Shadow Whip, boiling on my hand. Cautiously, one paw at a time, the wolf advanced on me. I didn't move, watching him closely. His body language was...cautious. Submissive, even.

"Red, watch it."

"Relax, Vicky. Look at his body language. He's not gearing up for a fight." I'd seen this wolf once before, here, when I'd claimed the Void Sword. I held out my hand, the blood and shadow of my weapon seeming to attract the wolf more than the rest of me.

"Right, but if he lunges, I'm going to see if he can fly."

The wolf paused, looking at Vicky, then let out a huff. He came within lunging distance, but he stayed relaxed, and gently licked at my hand. I smiled softly.

The wolf then pulled away, about ten feet from us. And then _shifted._ The next thing I knew, there was a man standing there, wearing a dark blue coat with golden wolves stylized across the sides, a medallion with a wolf's head hanging from his neck. He was also completely colorless, his long hair white, and his features, while handsome, had a few crack-like scars running across them. His eyes were a bright yellow, just like the wolf's own.

"My apologies to you two." He spoke, prominent fangs visible on his canine teeth. "It has been an age since I was free of my alternate shape. I required the blood of a vampire to free myself." He bowed to me. "Greetings, my sister. I am Alucard."

What.

* * *

A/N: The demon was, of course, Gaibon. He first appeared in Super Castlevania 4, though most people know him from being part of the Slogra + Gaibon first boss in Symphony of the Night.


	24. Siege 3-7

"Abs." Vicky said, hovering just above the floor.

Alucard tilted his head, looking at her, then me. "While I am glad you're not controlling people, that is rather concerning."

Vicky grinned, her eyes a bit glazed over. "His abs have abs."

Yes, Vicky. I noticed. I noticed _very_ well. Taylor Hebert here hasn't gone drooling idiot over them.

Though they _are_ nice. And...he called me sister.

No. Nono _nonono_. I do not have that kind of complex.

...traitorous brain. File those images away for later when _I'm not trying to get something done._

Finally, Vicky snapped out of it. "All right, Red. You've got some _serious_ issues going on, here. First, you got your own personal pocket dimension you can fit an entire frickin' mountain in, then you have a _very_ convincing Grim Reaper show us around, and _then_ you dream up a goddamn vampire hottie who calls you sister! This is just...dargh!"

I groaned. "I didn't come up with this stuff, Vicky. It's all a package deal, here. I didn't _ask_ for any of this, but I'm not going to turn it down when it's potentially useful."

Alucard, if anything, seemed amused as he looked at Vicky. "You believe I am some figment of imagination? I assure you, I am quite real."

Vicky pointed her finger at him. "That's exactly what a figment _would_ say."

He looked confused for a moment, then looked at me. "Is your entire world like this?"

I made a helpless shrug. "Mostly? Just her."

"Hey!" Vicky said. "Your parahuman powers are already severe bullshit, Red! Why not just a little bit more?"

I shuffled a bit awkwardly. "Um...Vicky? Pretty sure I'm not a parahuman. You called me a vampire before, and I'm pretty sure I really am one."

"There's no such thing as real vampires." Vicky said, though her tone was somewhat doubtful.

Alucard spoke then, sounding amused. "I am afraid I must disagree."

I held up my hands. "Look, hey, stop! Both of you. We can discuss the semantics later. It really doesn't matter _how_ I have my powers, just that I have them. We can mess with the hows and whys later." I shook my head, sighing as I looked to Alucard. "I'm Taylor, and this is Vicky."

He smiled and bowed. "Charmed, my ladies. Forgive my current appearance. I have not had the chance to feed and become more...whole. Demonic blood, while nourishing and powerful, is not what I require to be at my best."

I nodded slowly. "Well, that much is understandable. Why did you call me sister?"

Alucard frowned. "You possess my father's power. I had thought he had sired you and passed his power onto you, for whatever reason. He would not pass it on lightly, and I highly doubt he would do so if he had any other choice. You never met him?"

I shook my head. "I died, and then reawoke with his power three months later. Been trying to sort all this out, since."

Vicky gently slapped me on the shoulder. "With a bit of help, of course!"

Alucard nodded as he considered. "Then you've no information about all this. That certainly makes things more difficult. But, salvageable. There is much you are going to need to know in order to handle things in the future. For now, this is what is most important. This place is indeed, real. It is not a world on the Material. A Material world exists without input from minds. A stone is a stone, there. On a Plane, however, willpower and magic has an impact. One who rules a plane _defines_ it in a way that is impossible on a Material world. This castle exists because my father's power _made_ it exist. And since you rule here now, you define it as well. It will take time for it to change to your desire, but it will eventually reflect _you_ more than my father."

I groaned. "Great. As if my ego wasn't big enough already. I can will statues of myself into existence."

Vicky grinned. "No you won't. I'll help puncture your head if it gets too swollen."

Alucard looked amused. "That's among the things my father could do. And did. You might find a few, here and there. Still, what is more important is that you know it and command it. Once you bring it into the Material, it will have solidity in a way it does not, now. Still malleable, but powerful. But also vulnerable in ways it is not, here."

I stared at Alucard. "Bring it into the material?"

He chuckled. "Again, something he did numerous times."

Get a grip, Taylor. You're getting sidetracked. "We're trying to reach someone who's using a pocket dimension to hide while her men attack innocent people."

Alucard nodded. "Ah. A common tactic, for those who can manage the trick. My father developed counters for that sort of thing a very long time ago. The Portal Room, it permits travel anywhere on a Material plane. Any of them. It stands beneath the castle's main courtyard. Most of the time, that is. Castlevania is a rather fluid thing, considering the nature of this place. Which can be some trouble, at times. It gave me quite some issues when I had to make my way through here the first time."

I nodded slowly. "All right." I looked up at the ceiling. "I need to get to the Portal Room!"

The ballroom rumbled, the corridor leading out cracking and shifting, the hideous sound of tearing rock echoing in the room. When it stopped, I cautiously moved up to look. The corridor _looked_ completely normal, at least as far as this place goes.

I shrugged, looking at Vicky and Alucard. "Shall we?"

And so off we went.

* * *

The corridor was long and straight, torches guttering on their sconces. Still, it was warm and dry, and actually fairly pleasant, in a severely medieval kind of way. Then we came to an open chamber. All three of us stopped dead in our tracks.

My mouth dropped open.

Alucard's expression hardened.

Vicky laughed lightly. "Well, Taylor, if this is your subconscious, then you're definitely swinging both ways."

I knew that already, but really? Did the Castle have to shove it in my friend's face? Or was this just one of Dracul's things? Because, well, that would explain a lot.

The chamber ahead of us was filled with red cushions and pillows, and lying on them were women. There had to be at least thirty of them here, lounging away, scantily clad, and _ridiculously_ attractive. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, some even with bright blue or shining white hair. They hadn't noticed us, as they were currently...busy.

"I'm not judging." Vicky said faintly. "But, you know, I'm straight, and even I'm drooling at them, here." Her eyes followed a pair that were lost in their own little world, swallowing hard.

"Succubi." Alucard spoke lowly. "They will attempt to hinder us if we do not make things clear." He looked at me. "You inherited my father's power. They should listen to you. Otherwise, we shall have to cleave our way through. One way or another."

I winced. Demons or not, I'd prefer if we didn't have to kill my 'followers.' I took a deep breath, pulling on the Void to help focus and intensify my thoughts. And to help to keep from being...distracted.

Yes. I see them bouncing. They're very nice and _not now Taylor._

I cleared my throat. "Hear me now!" I called the Void Sword into existence, holding it up in the air, inwardly smiling as the distracted succubi suddenly all focused on me. "I am the Heiress of Dracul, and I want to speak with the leader of you _now!_ "

There was silence for a moment, and then one of the succubi darted to her feet, charging at me with a shriek of rage, her fingers extending into claws. As she came near, I turned, cut with the sword instinctively, and the blade sliced without effort. The weapon carved diagonally down her torso, and she fell to the ground in two parts, the blood from the hideous wound freezing from the contact with the Void Sword.

"Holy shit!" Vicky exclaimed.

Alucard nodded in approval.

The rest of the room stood in shocked silence. Then one white-haired succubus stood up, letting out a sigh. "Stupid, stupid Gerna. Someone holds up _that_ sword and she charges? Seriously?" She concentrated a brief moment, black and red wings sprouting from her back, a black corset and nothing else forming on her otherwise nearly-naked frame. ( _Yes, I still see them bouncing, and NO, not now!)_

The rest of the succubi gathered their wits, elaborate clothes and armor forming out of the air as they got off the cushions and knelt before us. The white-haired one came up to me and knelt, her head bowed. "I am Meridia, my Lady. Gerna was our strongest, and thus led us, but she had grown far too used to being head of our little group. She believed that none would ever succeed Dracul. Do you desire your rightful tribute, my Lady?"

I could see Alucard nod from the corner of my eye. I spoke with more confidence than I felt. "I do."

Meridia snapped her fingers, and another succubus quickly fetched a golden chalice. Meridia took it, turned one of her fingers into a sharp claw and cut her hand. She held it over the chalice, filling it with her blood, and then offered it to me. "My blood is my tribute, my Lady, as my life and soul is yours. "

I felt somewhat uncomfortable, but I took the chalice and drank from it. It tasted different than human blood, and was nothing like Lung's, but it felt _strong_ , nearly intoxicating. I felt a twinge deep within me, the demon's blood flowing alongside my own in my veins. My hunger receded, and I felt...nearly blissful. I wiped my lip, giving her a nod. "I accept your offering, with thanks." I looked around the room at the kneeling demons around me. "Spread the word through the castle. Dracul has granted me his power and his responsibility. Castlevania has a new ruler, and I will expect everyone here to fall in line with my wishes."

Meridia looked up at me. "It will be done, my Lady. What shall be your symbol?"

My...symbol? "Dracul used a black dragon, yes?"

She nodded. "Yes, my Lady, he did. It reflected his most terrible, supreme power."

I closed my eyes, breathing deep as I tried to feel what _my_ power felt like. To begin with, it felt like Dracul's, but there were things about it that weren't his, and were mine alone. I took another sip of blood from the chalice, and the blood brought clarity. It felt _right,_ in a way that 'Knight' did not, however close it may have been.

"I am the Scarlet Dragon. That shall be my sign." I opened my eyes. "How far is the Portal Room from here, Meridia?"

She gestured to the doorway on the opposite end of the chamber. "Just through there, my Lady. We always stayed near to lure the typical explorer or intruder to rest and...well, death, if we were permitted. It is a rather simple line of defense, but effective."

I nodded, turning to Vicky and Alucard. "Shall we?"

We passed between the kneeling succubi, Vicky floating along behind us. There was a corridor beyond, and it led directly to a large circular room, the size of football stadium. It was lined with empty archways that seemed to call to me on a visceral level.

Vicky spoke. "Okay, Red. What the hell was that, back there?"

I sighed and looked at her, shaking my head. "My powers come with a lot of baggage, Vicky. Now and again I get little hints of the man it belonged to, before. Nothing concrete, but...insights. Half-remembered habits, drips of knowledge that aren't enough to make much sense. But enough to make the right call in a moment like that."

"You _cut a woman in half!"_

Alucard spoke harshly then. "She cut an attacking _demon_ in half. Demons respect strength. If she had not, we would be fighting _all_ of them in there even now. And while we have strength enough to do so, it is _far_ more preferable to kill one than all of them."

Vicky's mouth worked for a moment, then she sighed. "Look, let's just...get at the mad bomber before we get too far off-track, yeah? I got to think about all this crap."

I nodded and went to an archway, put my hand on it, and concentrated. _Find the one named Bakuda. She hides in a pocket dimension. She murders civilians and children. She serves a pale imitation of the Dragon._

I felt that resonance I first felt back at Winslow. I willed it to grow, and suddenly the archway was filled with utter, complete blackness.

I turned to Alucard. "Are you coming?"

He smiled, his fangs showing. "I believe I shall. It will be a pleasure to be free of the castle once more. You and I shall have much to discuss once the crisis has passed, in any case."

I nodded, and turned to Vicky. "Ready to get at Bakuda, teach her not to mess with us?"

She smiled, faintly. "Yeah. Though I'm with pale-dude here. We got a lot to talk about once we've got her."

The three of us strode into the black portal together.


	25. Siege 3-8

We emerged into a large workshop, looking much like a car mechanic's shop. Concrete walls, open doorways, and toolboxes littered everywhere. Precision tools were lined up along the wall, metal shavings and half-finished components spread about on every surface. We took a moment to look around, and Alucard waved us forward as he noticed a lit doorway off at the side.

Vicky looked at Alucard suspiciously. "You didn't disappear."

Alucard looked amused. "Why would I?"

"Because...because..." She turned to me. "Bloody hell, Taylor. Know what? Nevermind! Let's just get on with this!"

That brought my mind back on track. I spoke quietly. "Non-lethal takedowns on anyone other than Bakuda. We don't know if she's got conscripts here or not."

Vicky nodded. "Right. Then we disable her with extreme prejudice. And I am going to pretend we never talked about the castle at all."

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "Conscripts?"

I growled lowly. "She put bombs in the heads of innocents. They have to do what she tells them, or they die horribly. If they're lucky."

Alucard's expression became determined. He reached to his side, a wickedly lethal blade appearing in his clawed hands. "A geas, then. Such things are used by the most evil beings." He paused in consideration. "We must end her quickly, then. Before she spreads her curse to even more."

Vicky and I nodded. Alucard took the lead, moving to the door, then flowing through, the same way I tended to float for a moment when trying to dodge. Is that what I looked like when I did it?

Freaky. And cool. Vicky went next, hovering silently over the floor, and I stepped through carefully, my whip at the ready.

I could hear several voices ahead, speaking in Japanese. Or Chinese. I wasn't familiar enough with either language to know which was which. I should probably look into learning them. Or maybe I could find a way to cheat around that. Why not? I had a magic castle, apparently, with actual succubi in the halls.

And now was _not_ the time to be distracted by those thoughts. Again.

I was going to need a few hours alone after all this. Apparently, vampirism raised frustrations. _All_ frustrations.

Alucard held up a hand, then pointed at the wall next to the doorframe ahead. I took position there, while Vicky floated upward and took position at the ceiling. He nodded with approval. Then he strode through, holding the blade at his side, across his left arm.

There was shouting, alarm, surprise. Some things translate regardless of language. Then there was the sound of metal cleaving metal. Vicky dashed into the room, and I came up the rear, the Shadow Whip boiling in my hand.

Alucard was surrounded by seven men, a crowbar cleaved in half on the floor between him and one dumbfounded Asian Bad-Boyz member. The rest hefted improvised weaponry, metal bats, tire irons, and one unfortunate had only brass knuckles.

One charged Alucard, letting out a yell while raising his bat. He simply turned, grabbed the bat with his left hand and smacked the flat of his sword across the man's back, sending him falling onto the floor with a grunt. He then used both weapons to devastating, if measured, effect on the next one to come near, breaking both the man's arms with a single motion.

Another tried to swing at Alucard's back, but Vicky grabbed him and broke his arm with a squeeze of her hand, making him scream. The rest of the men shrank back away from her, making it easy for me to come up behind two and slash with the Shadow Whip, catching both across the backs of the legs and spilling them to the floor, screaming in pain.

I should really look into getting some gentler non-lethal methods.

The rest of the men went into a corner, shivering in terror as the three of us advanced on the three non-injured men. Alucard almost casually discarded the bat he'd appropriated. He picked one up with his free hand, grinning as he placed his blade on the man's shoulder, allowing him to feel the cold weapon.

"This is the Crissaegrim, mortal. I forged it from three different legendary weapons, and I can use it to slice, burn, or freeze my opponents as I wish. If you do not wish to experience all of these things, you will tell me where your mistress is."

He shakily pointed over Alucard's shoulder. I looked. A figure wearing a bomb-disarming outfit, wearing a gas mask stood there, pointing...

"Alucard, move!" I shouted. Alucard dropped the man and _flowed_ away, just as Bakuda fired the grenade launcher.

The grenade slammed into the wall and instantly froze the three ABB members in the corner, their expressions filled with terror.

"You fucking idiots!" Bakuda shouted as she unclipped a pair of weird-looking grenades from her belt. "You try to attack a Tinker in her workshop!? I am the world's greatest Tinker, and _you_ are fucking dead!" She threw one at me and another at Alucard, probably considering us the greatest threats.

As the grenade neared me, I slapped it aside with the Shadow Whip, and it hit a corner to the right of the doorway Bakuda stood in. It popped open. It didn't seem to _do_ anything on first glance, but Bakuda dove back through the doorway she emerged from, avoiding that corner, running quickly.

Alucard vanished in a swirl of flames just before the grenade detonated at his feet, turning the floor and ceiling near him into glass. He reappeared in another swirl of flames next to me, his left hand on fire. Even as I stumbled away in surprise, he threw three fireballs toward the doorway Bakuda retreated through. One passed through the open door, one hit the wall on the left.

And the one on the right slowed and came to a stop in midair, near the door.

I gulped. "What the hell?"

Alucard snarled. "Potent sorceress indeed. She destroyed the flow of time in that area with that weapon. If you'd been caught in it, your only hope for release would have been your powers. Or that someone would be able to kill you before the time on the weapon used was drained away."

Vicky was pale. "That's fuckin' crazy. Using bombs like that on _anyone_. Christ."

Alucard mused for a moment, then his hand lit up in flames once more. He threw one fireball after another at the bubble of frozen time. He spoke as I raised an eyebrow at him. "Finding the edge of the effect. Without proper countermeasures, entering would be far too dangerous."

Soon it looked as if there was a frozen sun taking up a corner of the room. Worse, the edge of the bubble extended more than halfway over the doorframe. I grimaced. "Not exactly much room. Not sure I want to try teleporting past it, either."

Alucard grinned. "If you cannot find a path," He gestured to the wall on the left side of the doorway. "Make one."

I considered, then grinned viciously myself, igniting my flaming claws. I moved forward and hit the wall with all my strength, easily gouging a good chunk out of it. Vicky came up next to me, helping me rip and tear enough concrete away to get through without touching the frozen time-bubble.

"The sorceress will be expecting us, now." Alucard said. "We must be ready for her, as well."

I nodded. "Any suggestions?"

Alucard smiled. "I have a few."

* * *

"Such bullshit." Vicky whispered.

I shrugged. "Right now? Not going to complain."

Beside us, Alucard was standing stock-still, his eyes glazed over. We could hear the sound of cursing and yelling as an ethereal wolf chased Bakuda around in the next room, the occasional sound of a strange explosion going off making the both of us flinch now and again. There was the sound of shattering glass, then a more conventional explosion, then another freeze-bomb going off.

Finally, Alucard straightened, rubbing his shoulder with his clawed fingers. "She's expended most of her weapons. We can kill her quickly, now."

 _Finally._ I growled deeply. "She's mine." I looked to Vicky. "You have any problems with this?"

She looked somewhat conflicted, then she shook her head. "No. Bitch nearly killed my sister. Everyone's calling for her head."

Alucard nodded as well. "It is foolishness to allow a sorceress who attacks innocents with spells like this to leave alive. End her quickly."

I stepped through the door, whip at the ready. Bakuda stood there, breathing hard, the entire room looking like a war zone with all the different kinds of damage in it.

"Nowhere left to run, you child-killing bitch." I growled.

She screeched, activating another of her specialty grenades and throwing it at me. I didn't bother to dodge it. I just teleported right in front of her and slammed her into a wall that had been transmuted into glass. I brought out my flaming claws and started carving the bomb-disarmament suit from her body, ignoring her attempts to hit me.

"How does it feel, Bakuda? To be helpless before the stronger?" I snarled as I ripped the mask from her face.

She might have been pretty, if I hadn't known of the things she'd done. She spat at me. "Like you can judge me, you little bitch! I am a _genius._ I can fuck with _physics_ in ways you can't imagine!"

She tried to grab another grenade, but I simply grabbed her arm and crushed it. She screamed in agony. I then crushed her other arm, renewing her screams. I then slammed her head into the concrete floor, not so hard she'd lose consciousness or serious injury. Just enough to make her _feel_ it.

I stepped on her back, feeling her try and wriggle away from underneath me. I summoned the Void Sword, placing the cold tip of it on her spine. "You like using freeze-bombs on people? Let's see if _you_ can handle the cold."

"Everyone dies if you kill me!" She screamed.

That made me pause. My hands trembled on the Void Sword. The impulse to just _drive_ the sword through her was overwhelming. "Talk. Fast." I growled.

"I have a deadman's switch. My heart stops, _every_ bomb I ever made goes off. Brockton Bay'll become a fucking nightmare. The Eastern Seaboard'll have a goddamn hole in it big enough for Behemoth and a hundred of his brothers to hold a fucking dance competition in." She began to laugh, a hysterical giggling thing. "You can't afford to kill me. I'm the greatest Tinker the world's ever seen."

I dismissed the Void Sword. For once, its dismissal didn't shift my emotions one bit. I leaned down, my voice filled with icy rage.

"Thank you, Bakuda. I _was_ going to kill you. Now? I'm going to get _creative."_

* * *

We returned to the Castle. I dragged Bakuda behind me by a foot, while she wailed and screamed, trying to get away from me. She tried to kick the back of my leg as I pulled her along, but the few times she landed a hit didn't hurt at all. Merely annoyed.

Meridia was waiting for us. Marginally more dressed this time, though I could still see a _lot_ of skin. At least she was...covered, in the right places. She bowed. "My Lady, welcome back." Then she bowed to Alucard. "My lord Dracula." Then she bowed to Vicky. "And noble lady, welcome back to Castlevania." She grinned as she looked over Bakuda. "Have you brought us a gift?"

"In a manner of speaking." I said. "This is Bakuda. She is going to be an indefinite guest of the Castle. There are two conditions for her stay here. One, she stay alive. Two, she can _never_ escape."

Meridia's grin widened. "I see. I believe we can prepare just the thing." She flicked a strand of her white hair over her shoulder, her wings ruffling. She crouched next to Bakuda, her gaze turning _hungry._ "I will be very happy to take care of things from here, My Lady."

I gave the whimpering Bakuda a grin. "She's all yours, Meridia."

The succubus grabbed Bakuda. The mad Tinker let out a scream before they both vanished. I let out a shuddering sigh.

Vicky slowly turned, looking at Alucard. "My lord Dracula?"

He looked uncomfortable, and sighed. "Technically, accurate. My father took the name Dracul, the Dragon. Dracul-a would be 'Son of the Dragon.' However, I had a need to show myself to be opposite to him, despite my obvious heritage. Unlike some, I cannot hide the fact I am a vampire. Merely look more...healthy. Thus, I called myself Alucard. It is not the name I was given when I was born, but that man died a very long time ago." He looked pensive, his gaze on something far, far off in the past.

She nodded at that. Vicky then looked at me. "Well, this has been fun, but can we go home, now?"

I went to an archway and opened another portal.


	26. Interlude: Aftermath

_**Two weeks post-capture of Bakuda.**_

" _So what do you have to report?"_ Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown asked, her voice slightly tinny over the phone.

Piggot sighed. "It's a mess, Chief Director. Total deaths accounted for so far are eight hundred and sixty-three. Tentatively, four thousand injured. The city's got a lot of infrastructure damaged or outright destroyed. The Zeearie Corp building was destroyed, as was the Reliant Enterprises headquarters. A number of more conventional explosives went off. Fires are being handled by the fire services, as well as ourselves, but...there's a lot of damage, here. The city's going to be suffering economic woes no matter what happens."

" _Unfortunate, but at least the situation seems to be over with. I've diverted Protectorate resources to assist with finding and dismantling Bakuda's bombs. Dragon will be key, she can afford to lose suits if they're trapped to the point where she can't safely disable them."_

"Agreed. I've already got a report on the analysis of some of those bombs. Apparently, quantum-linked triggers. If Scarlet Knight had killed Bakuda instead of capturing her, they all might have gone off. As it is, though, with her in Knight's custody, we can concentrate on the bombs themselves before we ask for their maker. If the reports are true, the pocket dimension could be used as an alternative to the Birdcage, but...that relies on factors I don't like. The big one being Scarlet Knight herself."

There was a moment of silence as some papers ruffled in the background. _"_ _What about her? She seems to be a very versatile cape, and would be well welcomed in any Protectorate team. She's been helpful in almost every situation since she's appeared. Have you any success in getting her into the Wards?"_

Piggot shuddered, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "It's not simply the versatility, Director. It's the strength _and_ versatility of her powers. Any one of them would make a decent cape. Her teleportation alone could be used to attack or infiltrate places. I have a list here on her powers currently observed or reported upon. Teleportation. self-biokinesis, when she crafts weapons or armor out of her blood. Changer/Breaker state when she turns into a swarm of bats. Increasing Brute rating, at first it was barely more than human, now it's at _least_ a seven. Some form of thermokinesis. I watched her form frost on a conference table right in front of me, and she's been observed using fire as a weapon, as well. Master rating given during the crisis, she used a few thousand bats as a diversion when the PRT building was under attack. And _now_ she's apparently got the ability to open portals to her own personal pocket dimension, which has either _projections_ or _inhabitants._ I'm not sure which is worse."

Costa-Brown took a moment to consider that. _"_ _Yes, I read about this 'Alucard' that emerged after the claim of the capture of Bakuda. She's developing these abilities over time, however, and that is_ quite _worrying."_

"Indeed. If she continues gaining strength at this rate, I'm concerned that nothing in the Protectorate might be able to stop her if she went villain. Worse, she used her pocket dimension to apprehend Bakuda, who was hiding in her own pocket dimension."

It took no time at all for the Chief Director to make the connection. _"_ _She might be able to breach the Birdcage if she felt like it, if that's the case. There are defenses against that kind of thing, but powers are somewhat unpredictable. An ordinary pocket dimension shouldn't be_ able _to reach another like that. We'll need to test them."_

Piggot hummed a little, her voice full of consideration. "I had the same concern, Director. I've been cooperative with her up to this point, and I intend to continue to do so as long as she remains reasonable. However, I am _very_ worried of the possible fallout if someone manages to Master her, or if she ceases to be reasonable. I want to get her into the Protectorate, but I have very little legal leverage, and putting pressure on her may backfire and cause the exact scenario I'm worried about. And, depending on just how many of these...whatever she might have in her pocket dimension, we might end up with another Ellisburg situation. One 'inhabitant' we can handle, but if she has an army in there... It's another reason I'd rather not demand Bakuda from Scarlet Knight until after the bombs are accounted for."

" _Then we work carefully. I think I will send someone to help try and smooth things over. How is Armsmaster? His injury report is concerning."_

Piggot sighed. "Stable. The cauterization saved his life, but it wasn't done very well. If he hadn't gotten medical attention right away, infections might have killed him. At the moment, Panacea is rather busy working to save the most critically injured, and so while Armsmaster's stable, he's not a high priority. It would take weeks for Armsmaster get back on his feet, just from needing to take in enough biomass to form new legs. Dragon's offered to help construct prostheses for him to use, instead. As for the rest of my staff...the damage here's pretty extensive. I lost twenty-nine personnel during the attack here. We may need to have the top floors rebuilt."

" _Very well. Thank you for your report, Director Piggot. Good work."_ There was a click, and the line went dead.

Piggot set the phone down, then brought up an audio file on her computer, tapping her chin as she listened.

" _What do you see when you look at Scarlet Knight?"_

Gallant's voice replied, full of both confusion and discomfort. _"_ _I see a black void, surrounded by a bright corona. The corona lights up with whatever she's feeling at the moment, but it's_ painful _to look at her directly. It's like looking into the heart of an infinite abyss. It's both extraordinarily bright and horribly, scarily dark. She's a black hole."_

* * *

Rebecca Costa-Brown hung up the phone. She licked her lips, considering as she tapped her fingers on her desk. She spent a long few minutes doing so, her mind working through the scenarios. Finally, she nodded to herself and put her office on lockdown. Metal shutters closed over the windows, space-warping Tinker tech activated, giving the office the size of a breadbox. At least, from the outside. It was one of the few reliable ways of preventing various teleporters from getting inside.

"Door." She called. An orange octagon formed in the air, the space in the center showing a conference room. Without hesitation, she strode through.

"Any luck?" She asked the three figures sitting at the table. Eidolon, the most powerful parahuman on the planet, second only to Scion himself. At least, by public perception. Doctor Mother, she who spent so much of her life on making all this possible. And Contessa, their best chance at ensuring there would be a human species in the next century.

Doctor Mother shook her head. "Scarlet Knight is _not_ one of ours. She has no connections to purchase a formula, nor can we trace any path where she might have acquired one. A few have gone missing over the years, but our post-cognitives can't find anything before her 'death' in January."

Rebecca nodded. "What about after that? Could someone have stolen her corpse, revived her, perhaps with Bonesaw's skills or some equivalent, and given her a formula?"

Contessa shook her head. "No. I've attempted to find someone with the requisite criteria. Nobody. Anywhere. More concerning is... " She tilted her head. "The Path to Victory changed _vastly_ when she awoke. It took until now to discover who was at the cause of that. I can't model her directly. I have to build a mental model which is very much _like_ this Scarlet Knight to be predictive. Even then, it is imperfect, I need more information."

Eidolon frowned. "That sounds familiar. Could she be another one?"

Doctor Mother grimaced. "I hope not. Though if she _was_ , she likely would have made contact by now. Scion doesn't seem to have noticed. We'll have to keep an eye on the situation as it develops. She just might be a powerful asset."

* * *

Alucard breathed the night air, looking around him with wonder. "So much steel and glass. Your metalsmiths and glassworkers must live like kings."

Victoria gently smacked his arm, chuckling. "Come on big guy. And keep your coat buttoned up. Most people wear shirts, you know."

He looked down at himself, then back to Victoria. "But I am comfortable. I do not feel cold at all."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but...well, social mores, Al." She grinned as a couple walked by them in the opposite direction, both of them doing a double-take at the pale man with his coat open.

Very carefully, Alucard tied his coat together. It obviously hadn't been done for a very long time, with some of the loops for the leather straps torn to the point of unusuability.

Victoria nodded. "There. A bit better. You should have that looked at, you know. How old is it?"

He shrugged. "Some four hundred years or so. I am unsure, to be honest. It doesn't age when I am in my wolf shape, and I was in that form for quite some time. It's not exactly easy to measure."

Victoria nodded, then smiled. "Well, it's due for a bit of fix-up. I know someone who should be able to help you out. You and I are going to the mall!"

Alucard tilted his head. "What is a mall?"

When they arrived, he had his answer. "Ah. The merchant's quarter."

Victoria took her time going through the crowd. Alucard noticed he was getting some odd looks, but it was actually somewhat refreshing. Most people seemed apprehensive as they looked at him, rather than turning and running, screaming 'Vampire, vampire!'

They were about to come up to a leather sewing shop, when Victoria paused and looked at him. "Um...can you form a shirt? Red just shifts her clothes into whatever she wants."

He blinked. "I must admit I cannot do such a thing."

She sighed and turned on her heel. "Great. We got to get you a shirt first. Otherwise, you'll be walking around shirtless while we get your coat fixed up."

So they started to go in a new direction, and the lights suddenly turned out.

There was a crackle, then the mall's general address speakers came online. _"_ _Good evening, shoppers. Forgive the interruption on your shopping needs. As our compensation, we will be having a show here tonight! Brought to you by Uber-"_

" _And Leet!"_

" _-your favorite rogues. Spicing up the dull pace of life here in Brockton Bay!"_

The mall's security doors shut, trapping a a few hundred shoppers within. People began smacking at the doors, while Victoria and Alucard stayed calm.

Victoria began muttering. "Oh come on, they pull this now?"

Zombies began coming out of the mall's maintenance hallways. Alucard frowned. "They have no scent."

Victoria shrugged. "Relax. I know what's happening. Those zombies are kinda like ghosts. They don't really exist. Nobody's busted Leet's holo-projector yet."

" _The theme for tonight is: Dead Rising! The lucky few survivors who kill the most zombies will get a prize at the end of three hours! Oh, and if you get taken down, we'll spawn a zombie in your place, so think real careful, people! Ready, set...well, it's already going, so good luck, participants!"_

Alucard looked at Victoria. She shrugged. "Well, we've got to keep people safe, right?"

He nodded and summoned the Crissaegrim out of thin air. "We do, indeed."

* * *

Danny rested his head in his hands.

He hadn't been sleeping much, when Taylor had died. When she returned, though, he'd managed to recover some of his health. Each day had improved a bit on the last. Even his dreams, which had been filled with an immense sense of crushing failure, had begun to quiet. He had this strange sense of...satisfaction, somehow.

Even though his resurrected, changed daughter had given him enough stress to turn his hair white if he still _had_ all of it.

The last few days alone had him worrying. When she'd gotten home, they'd spent a few hours together. Taylor reassuring him she was okay, and him trying so very hard to not lose his temper.

Beyond all that, though...he had the strangest feeling his life was turning around.

He looked over at his phone, letting out a sigh as he waited. It rang, he picked up.

" _Hello Danny. It's Hannah. I was wondering if you were free this evening?"_

Well. Maybe not _that_ strange a feeling.

* * *

Neptune worked to douse another blaze.

The Protectorate hero was an enigma, even to himself. Case 53, most called him. It made sense, considering when they found him, he'd been busily trying to shape himself out of seawater in the shade under the Boardwalk, having used his powers to pull an otherwise hapless swimmer back to shore a moment before.

That was the first thing he remembered, trying to save a life. Controlling his substance as water alone was difficult, and it had taken so _very_ much to work with others. He felt driven to be out there, as if there was this void in his (metaphorical) heart. Saving others from fires, search and rescue. All of it.

He carefully peeled back the glove on his hand, prying up the false-skin beneath to see the water of his 'body' flow beneath. The suit helped keep him together, and thankfully he didn't have muscles to get sore or tired. Still, he felt he knew _something_ was wrong. That this wasn't how he should be.

Something was odd, though. He'd done his research, he knew Case 53s had nothing. He had...faint impressions. Not true memories, but not a complete black void, either. Just this drive to be _strong._ Aside from that, the only thing that was his was given to him. 'John Vand' the name assigned to him by the PRT. 'Vand' being Danish for 'water.'

Yeah, someone was real clever.

The fire was out, and he moved to assess the damage. He nodded as another firefighter waved him forward into the creaking building. If it collapsed, he wouldn't be in any real danger, after all. He'd just need a new suit.

Though it _would_ be a pain to get a new set of silver scale armor for his costume. Neptune _hated_ the PR department.

As he moved in to save another life, his phone announcing his presence at full volume, he inwardly smiled. He felt...satisfied, somehow.

* * *

Coil opened the cell.

Dinah looked at him, her eyes glazed over. He tilted his head, examining his newest pet. It hadn't been easy, arranging this on such short notice, but Bakuda's reign of terror on the city made it rather simple. He'd only had to use his power twice to manage a successful, clean kidnapping attempt.

Thanks to the Travelers, it had been even easier to ensure Dinah would not be missed. Having her simply go _missing_ during the bombing would have been fine. Ensuring _evidence_ of her death appearing, on the other hand...that was even more valuable. And a useful test.

"Please...I need the candy." She managed to whisper.

He nodded. "I know it hurts, my pet. I need to ask you a few questions, first."

She winced. "T-two. Just two. It'll hurt too much if I do any more than that."

"Three. Then the candy. What are the chances of success if I launch an assassination attempt on Kaiser using a sniper?"

She whimpered, then spoke. "Twenty-three point two-four percent."

He nodded. About what he'd expected. "What are the chances of success of the planned mission to retrieve Shadow Stalker during her transfer?"

Dinah clutched her head. "Sixty-one point two percent."

Excellent. Better than expected. "What are the chances Scarlet Knight will intervene?"

She started sobbing from the pain. "Three point two one percent chance."

"Very good, pet." Coil stepped away, allowing the doctor to advance on Dinah, syringe at the ready.

Dinah held out her arm, inwardly hating herself for the desire to be relieved from both the pain of her Thinker headache and the withdrawal from the drugs. Just as the haze began to rise over her, she asked herself one question.

 _Chances I'll be able to go home again?_

 _Seventy-three point four six percent._

She managed to hide her smile.

* * *

In orbit, the Simurgh twitched.

Leviathan, which had just awakened and had started heading for Brockton Bay suddenly veered off. The Endbringer dove deep into the Atlantic basin, coming to a rest once more.

The Simurgh unfurled each of her wings, focusing her sight downward. She crossed her arms, coming to a repose, uncaring of the alarms that were even now making their way around the world. She didn't shift her course.

Things had changed. So must the pattern.


	27. Ascension 4-1

A/N: Alright. This part's going to tick some people off. As I said before, this is an combination of the two Castlevania settings, along with _quite_ a few alterations to make it work. It is imperfect, and I am willing to take criticism about improving it, but this was simply the best solution I could get. I didn't make this choice lightly.

* * *

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 **Topic: General Announcement  
In: Boards ► Endbringer Watch**

 **Dragon** (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (The Guild)  
Posted on May 8, 2011:

At 3:14 am, Eastern Time, sonar sensors detected Leviathian beginning to move. A general alert was distributed throughout the United States and Canada as the East Coast of North America seemed to be within the direction of his approach.

Exact location of his would-be target point cannot be determined at this time, as one minute after he began to move, he dove back down into the Atlantic basin. He seems to be currently staying in one place, approximately three hundred miles off the coast of Florida.

However, the Simurgh has unfurled itself in orbit. It has **not** begun a descent. Seismic sensors also indicate that Behemoth has gone still, as well.

I know we are all concerned. Everyone is expecting one of them to attack around now. Be advised that we are keeping a close eye upon all three Endbringers at this time, and the moment any of them begin to move, we will sound the alert for their target.

We know this is a tense situation right now. We are doing everything we can to keep an eye on things and be prepared for their next move.

 **This topic is closed for replies.**

* * *

I turned to Alucard. "What do you think?"

"These beasts are familiar to me." Alucard said, looking over my shoulder as I went through the PHO website. "While it astonishes me you can share messages across the world in an instant, this is far more concerning. These...Endbringers. Is there a portrait of them we can find?"

I nodded, bringing up what I could on the Endbringers. His expression was unreadable as I filed through pictures of Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Simurgh.

I spoke quietly, mindful of the others in the room. We were at the Rig, the Protectorate HQ for Brockton Bay, taking advantage of the computer facilities of the Protectorate.

Everyone was on edge. All the heroes were waiting for the call to head out, to fight back against one of the three. I waited on the Rig, with occasional forays into Castlevania to see what I could contribute to a possible Endbringer fight. Alucard, apparently having come from a _much_ simpler era, was trying to catch up enough to not be useless. His understanding of things was severely medieval. Nearly everything was magic to him.

Not that he couldn't _deal_ with such things. Just that he lacked the background to truly understand.

He stiffened as he saw a photograph of the Simurgh. One taken soon after she first arrived. A look of profound sorrow came over his features.

"You recognize her?" I asked, worry in my mind.

Alucard nodded. "I do. I'm not sure how you managed to get a portrait that detailed, but...yes. Her name is...was, Ariel. She was a goddess of music, of creativity, and fate."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

He looked around the room, then shook his head. "Not here. There is...much you would need to know to understand, and I am uncomfortable laying bare my past, here."

I nodded, giving him a gentle smile. "We can talk at the top of the Rig, in that case. It's reasonably private."

Alucard looked grateful. I got to my feet, nodding to the Protectorate employees who worked at the Rig, maintaining the whole thing. The last three days, everyone was on edge.

Nobody knew what was making the Endbringers act so odd. I had suspicions, because so _damn_ much was tracing back to me the whole thing felt silly. But, I didn't want to voice them out loud where anyone might hear. I already had a swollen enough ego, dammit. I didn't want to take credit for making the Endbringers twitch around. Even if it _was_ true.

We stepped outside, smelling the sea as the lights of Brockton Bay glittered in the distance. Alucard visibly relaxed as we rested on the railing. "Tis nice to enjoy the night air. The Castle wasn't exactly a place of calm. I spent a great deal of time there either hunting or resting."

I nodded slowly, closing my eyes. The moment felt peaceful. "I've been operating in the dark here for a long time, Alucard." I said softly. "I still have only the faintest idea of what it means to have your father's power. Now and again I get little bits from him. His name...some confidence. A bit of his ego." I gave him a smile. "He was a bit full of himself, wasn't he?"

Alucard barked out a laugh. "Aye, he was. That was one of his greatest weaknesses, in truth. After some time, he believed he could not make a mistake." His clawed fingers curled around the railing. "Now this is a long story, and unfortunately I do not have everything. Some things only my father knew."

"Alright. Still, anything's better than nothing."

He closed his eyes, looking pensive. "The stories say my father was a good man, once. He was a knight, who fought in defense of others. Gabriel Belmont was his name, and he was part of the Knights of the Phoenix. Warriors who were taught to fight against the forces of the Lord of Darkness of the era." He tilted his head and chuckled softly, seeing my expression. "There had been a few throughout history as I know it. It isn't that important. The same is true of the Lord of Light. We called the latest 'The Phoenix' but there had been others. Again, they aren't that important. They are all long dead now."

 _Belmont._ The same half-thought I recalled when I met with Madison.

He looked out into the water, his pale features almost seeming to glow in the faint light. "The gods of my world rarely took physical form. There were many of them. More than I care to remember, and with most of them being dead...it doesn't matter much. The one that was _most_ active was the Lord of Darkness, Typhon. Though that's a rough translation. At some point, long before I was born, Typhon had taken mortals and twisted them, creating many of the beasts that plagued my world. Werewolves, vampires, and demons. Devils are something else, they are born of the Hells."

I spoke softly. "And something happened to Gabriel's wife, making him go all out." It was a guess, but it seemed to fit.

Alucard nodded. "Typhon started a war, and my father went to face the forces of darkness. My mother was killed, and he embarked upon a bold plan. Murder Typhon's generals, and then face the Dark Lord himself. I was but a boy, then. He must have succeeded, as the dark armies fell into disarray, most of the forces retreating into the dark places of the world. It was assumed that my father died along with the Dark Lord. We knew it would take time either for Typhon to revive or for his successor to gather his strength. We did _not_ expect that my father had become a vampire himself, or that he had taken the power of Typhon for his own."

He gently took the wolf medallion on his chest, turning it in his hands, seemingly lost in thought. "It was thirty years before he returned. We knew it when the scattered races began to all move to a single place. What is now Castlevania. We learned of a new Lord of Darkness, the Dragon, Dracul. Then came a prophecy that only a Belmont would have a chance at stopping him." Alucard looked deeply pained then.

"You," I breathed. "They sent you to kill him?"

Alucard scowled. "Aye, they did. My name was Adrian Belmont, when I was a mortal man. Understand the problem. Darkness does not mean _evil_ , nor does light mean _good._ Darkness is _passion_ while light is _order._ The Phoenix, however he was presented, was a true bastard at the end of things. More concerned about self-aggrandizement and the flow of worship than the well-being of his devoted. Somewhere along the line, both holders of the powers of Light and Dark had become twisted. The Phoenix had become concerned with perfect order, and Typhon had lost all reason."

I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh. "So what happened?"

Alucard's voice was filled with pain. "I left my wife, Sonia, and my son, Trevor, behind to face Dracul. That was when I first met _her._ Ariel, she who you now call the Simurgh. She warned me at the gates of Castlevania that I would fail in my attempt to kill Dracul, but she did not tell me why. I, however, was too full of pride, too full of _indoctrination_ , believing Dracul was simply the demon that had possessed the corpse of my father. I ignored her and went through the Castle. I reached my father, we fought, and he dealt me a fatal blow."

He looked at me, his golden eyes filled with that powerful, painful memory. "Ariel then came, showed him the truth. The next thing I remember was awakening in my tomb."

I shuddered. "I can relate to that, Alucard. I'm sorry. What then?"

He looked to the night sky, letting out a breath. "I found my son, now a man himself, attempting to both avenge my death and stop Dracul, who was murdering thousands in his thirst for revenge against the Phoenix. I aided Trevor in his goal, despite having lost my love for the Phoenix myself. With the sorceress Sypha aiding us, we combined our strengths and slew Dracul. Trevor went on to have a family, while I went to wander the world. A century later, my father revived, and a new Belmont came to stop him, Simon. For eight centuries, the cycle continued. Dracul would rise from the grave or be resurrected, and a Belmont would come and put him down. I lent my aid now and again, giving my descendants a chance to stop my father."

I made a wry chuckle. "And I thought I'd heard some really bad family issues, but this? Yeah, more than I thought." I sighed. "You should probably meet someone, Alucard. When I first met her after awakening, the...whatever I have in my head of your father called her Belmont."

He rose a white eyebrow. "Indeed? The Phoenix meddling, perhaps...there are certain powers we...they, used to face Dracul. It would be important if she has the ability to tap into them. Especially if this Simurgh is indeed Ariel."

"Are you sure she is?" I had to ask.

He grimaced. "Considering the destruction I remember, I have good reason to believe. A war erupted, new magics began appearing everywhere. Magics like that of Victoria, but erupting into conflicts that we could not contain. Both the Phoenix and the Dragon set their differences aside to try and save what they could of the world. I went within the Castle, and my father shifted it to the Shadow Plane, for my nature was...incompatible with others. I presume things went badly, but I know nothing for sure after that."

I nodded. "Madison is with the Wards at the PRT building downtown." I licked my lips. "I'm going to ramp things up for when the Endbringers actually move. They always do."

* * *

I strode through the Shadow Portal, letting out a breath as I walked from the Portal Room to the staging area. I came to a balcony, overlooking an immense courtyard.

Meridia noticed me first. This time, she was wearing red platemail armor, shining and bright, patterned after my own. Her wings twitched as she bowed to me. "My Lady Dragon. Things are coming along nicely."

I smiled slightly, though my mind wasn't entirely confident. "How many so far, Meridia?"

She grinned proudly, nearly bouncing on her feet. "One thousand, four hundred, and seventy-three so far, My Lady."

Below was an army. _My_ army. There stood werewolves, demons and metal golems, most human-sized but some standing ten feet tall or more. All of them were wearing something red, whether it was something as simple as a strip of cloth or full armor.

I leaned on the railing, nodding. "Good. We'll need more, but this is a good start, Meridia. We're going to need everything we can if we're going to have a chance at killing a god."


	28. Ascension 4-2

The hospital terrace. I reformed into my ordinary self carrying a take-out bag. The city was still in rough shape, but people were out and about and business was resuming, albeit muted with some of the major corporations having lost their local headquarters. Ordinarily, that would mean the gangs would be on the move, too, but they were on a tight leash apparently. I suppose everyone was waiting for the moment the Endbringers came down, and _nobody_ wanted it to be here.

I knew Amy was a bit overworked with what had happened. Taking care of Bakuda's victims over the last couple of weeks had been much, much worse than the usual routine. I'd decided to come by and try and help a bit.

I grinned as I saw Amy standing in the shade of the terrace, sandwich in one hand and phone in the other.

" _Hey, Al!"_ I heard Vicky say, her voice coming over the phone. _"_ _Three in front!"_

Alucard's calm voice reached me. _"_ _I see them."_ There was the sound of Alucard's blade, and three bodies hitting a floor.

I cleared my throat, and Amy jumped a bit. She turned and gave me a tired smile. "Hey, Taylor. That for me?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Fugly Bob's reopened. Figured you might want something while I came by to pick up a pack or two. What were you watching?"

She sighed, handing me her phone while taking the bag in exchange. She opened the bag and took out a burger, setting her rather drab sandwich aside. I restarted the video.

" _Well Leet, as you can see, our mystery contestant kicks a_ _ **ton**_ _of ass. Two hundred and thirty-five zombies down by that wicked sword of his."_

" _That's right, Uber! I kinda want one of those myself! Glory Girl's ahead by...well, three points, but then she can cheat by using entire half a pillar as her preferred weapon. I was getting worried we wouldn't have the time to clear the registers while these two were mopping up zombies so efficiently, so when it looked like they were about to actually_ **clear** _the mall of zombies, we ramped things up a bit!"_

" _So we sent in the Hall family! That's right, the sniper family that everyone hates. Don't worry folks, all the blood and violence you see here is digital."_ Uber said firmly.

I gaped as I saw Alucard getting shot at by a trio of snipers, the three standing at the mall's second floor, looking like hunting rednecks more than anything else. He took a shot, staggering, then he turned into mist, the bullets going right through his form. He floated upward, returning to his human shape. The holograms shot at him again, but he flowed around the shots, reaching the three projections and 'killing' two of them with a single stroke of his blade.

The third scrambled away, only to get flattened as Vicky smacked him with a hot dog cart.

I winced. "And of course, Alucard never told me about this, while I hadn't seen Vicky for a while."

New zombies started pouring in as the camera view shifted, giving a wonderful view of Alucard and Vicky moving to protect a storefront full of people.

" _It was at about this point we decided to bug the fuck outta there."_ Uber said. _"_ _Because, well, neither of us really wanted to see just how sharp that sword was. So, Mister Sephiroth, we're looking forward to crafting a scenario just for you. Since this is your first time in public, we are_ _ **proud**_ _to announce you to the world!"_

The camera focused in on Alucard's puzzled face. A digital crown was plopped on his head on the still image. A digital banner reading 'BAMF' came up, sparkling in neon and with dancing catgirls holding the digital banner. Uber and Leet both spoke in unison _"_ _To Vampire Dude! Our BadAss MotherFucker of the year! Not only did he get the most points, he's pulled off the best Sephiroth cosplay we've seen!"_

Uber spoke on his own, then. _"_ _All right Leet, tell the internet what the man's won for his hard work today!"_

Leet laughed. _"_ _You got it, Uber. Vampire Dude, you have won the grand prize of King of the Internet! We shall spread your fame as King until someone more badass comes along on our show. Considering your performance, that may take a while."_

" _We hope you've enjoyed the show, folks! This has been Uber-"_

" _And Leet!"_

" _And we're signing off!"_ There was some fumbling, the sound of something falling, Leet swearing, before the video actually ended.

I blinked. Blinked again. Looked at Amy, who was halfway through her burger. She shrugged.

"What the hell did I just watch?" I demanded as I handed back her phone. "And how the hell did those two get Vicky and Alucard on their show?"

Amy laughed softly. "Apparently just a bit of luck. Vicky just 'happened' to bring Alucard to the mall. Both to help him get new stuff, get people used to him being around, and to get him used to things around. Of course, she didn't _tell_ anyone she was doing it." She shook her head. "I'm just glad she hit a hologram with that hot dog stand, and not an actual person."

I winced. "Sensing a story here."

Amy shook her head. "Not really important, now. Vicky's always had impulse issues and a temper. When she first got her powers, it was easy for her to go overboard. She's a lot more careful these days, but she can sometimes do things without thinking. Took a while for her to learn, though."

That, I could sympathise with. I'd been lucky so far, very much so in retrospect. I needed to fix that. I could have very easily killed those ABB members my first day back if I'd been just a bit hungrier. I wasn't exactly feeling charitable towards gang members, these days, but I'd rather keep myself under control. Well, somewhat under control.

I sighed, looking Amy over. "How are you holding up? I bet you're just waiting for the call, like everyone else."

Amy grimaced. "Yeah. I helped with the casualties at Canberra. The Simurgh doesn't tend to kill much, but...the aftermath is the worst. Everyone hoping things turn out okay, making sure you don't stay in the range of her screaming for too long. When I gained my power, they hoped I could heal the whatever damage the Simurgh does to people, but...I can't do brains."

I winced. "I can't imagine the pressure, Amy." I looked her over, taking in her exhausted state. "Um...how long have you been here today?"

She blinked. "Um...three hours. I think."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "So if I call the front desk, they'll say you got here at nine, instead of six in the morning?"

The shuffling of her feet told me everything. I sighed. "Amy, you can't keep doing this to yourself."

"Schools are still shut down." She said. "Arcadia has a bubble of frozen time out in front of it. They're not going to reopen until the whole thing is filled with cement and used as a memorial. People here are hurt, and I'm the only one who can handle the really bad injuries."

I shook my head. "And how many of those have you had to deal with in the last week?" She opened her mouth. "That _couldn't_ be handled by the doctors?"

She closed her mouth, then sighed. "Three."

"There you go." I said softly. "Look, I get it. You've got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. But nobody can keep going like you have all the time, Amy. Even world-renowned doctors need time to rest and recharge. You're not going to do anybody any good if you burn out or suffer a psychotic break."

She bit her lip. "Taylor, please, I _have_ to do this."

I shook my head. "Says who? Do you want to? Seriously, Amy, you've got to save your energy. When was the last time you took some time for yourself?"

Amy sighed. "When we saw Jurassic Park."

I flushed a bit with the memory. "Yeah. Which was awesome, but even that was a bit awkward."

She managed a small giggle. "Yeah, but your face was hilarious when you realized it was supposed to be a double-date."

I grinned, despite my embarrassment. "Yuk it up. Look, we don't know what's going to happen next." I strode up to her and took her hand. "Come on. We'll finish up here, then spend a day, alright?"

Amy nodded faintly, her face full of reluctance.

* * *

"What does it taste like to you?" Amy asked with morbid fascination.

I had a blood pack hidden in a travel mug, drinking it from a straw as we sat on a bench, watching the water. I took a deep breath, enjoying the cool ocean breeze. I felt a bit less secure without my armor on, but I knew I could shift my clothing into it at a moment's notice. I made a small shrug. "Kinda bland, actually. Like this, it's sort of like snacking on a tortilla shell without anything in it. Not quite tasteless, but if you've got enough of it, it's filling. I can make do with a _lot_ less straight from the vein."

She hummed softly in consideration. "So it's either not just the blood you need, or it's the preservatives and such that make it less appetizing."

I stopped mid-slurp. I hadn't even thought of that. "Well, that might do it. Though, you know, powers are weird. Especially mine."

Amy nodded, grinning with mischief. "I'll say. My sister's report was pretty thorough about the inhabitants of your castle, there. Fire-breathing demons, a cosplay grim reaper and vampire guys?"

I smiled in amusement. "She didn't mention the succubi?"

Amy blinked, then she leaned closer to me, interest in her features. "Succubi?"

I nodded seriously. "Yeah. A whole room full of them, thirty or so. All...rather enjoying themselves."

Amy's mouth worked for a moment before she managed to speak. "No, she must have skipped that part."

I laughed softly. "Well, we just met Alucard, we were heading to the spot in the castle where we could break into Bakuda's pocket dimension, and then we found a very decadently comfortable room filled with them. They were all _gorgeous._ Natural supermodel gorgeous, I mean. I know that's kinda normal for them, considering they're demons of lust and seduction, but they were _really_ distracting."

She giggled. "How did Vicky react?"

I laughed softly, taking a moment to sip from my mug. "Well, she first gave me a tease about how much I'm swinging both ways, considering what was in the castle. Then she _really_ noticed how pretty the succubi were, and got a bit distracted herself."

Amy's smile slowly faded.

Uh oh. What did I say? I gently touched her chin. "You alright, Amy?"

She sighed, kicking the sand beneath the bench. She seemed to be lost in thought. "Look, um... Taylor, I like you. You've been a friend, and you seem to care about me more than..." Her breath hitched and she shook her head. "Can you keep a secret?"

I breathed out slowly. Oh boy. Now I was put in _Emma's_ position. Amy wanted to share a painful secret with _me_ of all people, at least from her expression. I thought about it for a moment, then I nodded.

I resolved to _never_ use her secrets against her.

"I won't say anything to anyone, Amy. If you're willing to share with me, it's fine."

Amy made a weak smile. "Did you know I was adopted?"

I shook my head. Though that would explain a fair bit, considering Amy was a mousy brunette while Vicky was a pretty, model-quality blonde. "No, makes sense now you've told me, though."

Amy nodded. "I don't remember much from before I was taken in. Mostly a man's voice, reading to me when I went to bed. But I've always known I liked girls. Since we were kids, I...um...always liked Vicky, but it got worse when she got her powers. She went from this gorgeous forbidden fruit I couldn't touch to _perfect_ and..." Her face turned red, and she looked at the sand, speaking under her breath. "You must think I'm a freak."

I gently took and squeezed her hand. "Nah. Have issues, sure, but not a freak. You remember when I went blank in Dean's car, before we saw Jurassic Park?"

She frowned a little, then nodded. "Yeah. I was wondering if you were going to go and jump out of the car. While it was moving."

I smiled. "Yeah, well, before my trigger, I was straight. After, I found myself...well, open to the idea of a rather larger dating pool." I shook my head, flushing. "And I have to admit I've thought about Miss Militia a fair bit. Among others. Which is real awkward, because Miss Militia was one of my heroes as a kid. Apparently I...uh...have a thing for strength. Gender doesn't matter so much. Although I got nothing from Armsmaster."

She smiled slightly. "Guess it's because he's so antisocial? His lack of social ability is legendary."

I shrugged, returning the smile. "Anyway, I can see why you'd be interested in Vicky. And while being her adopted sister _does_ make things a bit...complicated, it doesn't make you bad or a freak." I closed my eyes, considering. "Mom told me that you can't always help how you feel about someone, positive or negative. All you can do is control how you act." I tapped my chin. "Heck, thinking about it, I'm attracted to Vicky, and I don't feel anything from her aura."

Amy straightened, looking at me. "Nothing? I've been exposed so much it doesn't force me to do anything, but I still feel it whenever she gets close."

I shook my head. "Nothing. She turned it on full blast while we were in my castle. I felt nothing."

She gaped at me. "Can I...look you over? If we can figure out how you're immune to it, that could be _big_ , Taylor. It could maybe help against the Simurgh."

I blinked. Then facepalmed. I hadn't even thought of that. I looked at Amy. "Thought you couldn't do brains?"

She shook her head. "I can _look._ I try not to, because it's a _lot_ of detail and I don't _want_ to be able to change any of it, but I can tell when something is wrong." Amy shuddered. "If I _did_ change the brain, I'd change the person, and that would be a horrible thing to do to someone. Since your brain's always been okay, if odd, at a glance, I've never looked deeper."

I nodded slowly. What she was saying didn't ring completely true, but I figured she had her reasons. "Alright, take a look." I held out my hand.

Amy grasped it, then her brow furrowed in concentration. "Hmm...the sun's hurting you every second, isn't it? You're just...healing and resisting it. And you feel slightly different this time. Darker hair?"

I shrugged. "My hair went white, once. I changed it back. Wait, darker than before? Huh." I'll have to experiment with that.

Amy bit her lip, then she blinked. "Just like the rest of you, frozen. There's nothing for me to see. Your brain's...inactive. Everything's there, it looks healthy and fine, but it's not _doing_ anything. If you were asleep and unmoving, I'd call you brain-dead if I didn't know better."

I laughed softly, giving her a teasing grin. "So that's why I'm having so much trouble with math lately."

She grinned, giving my arm a smack. "You said you changed your hair. Can you show me?"

I nodded, concentrated, and felt my scalp tingling. Amy tilted her head as she watched my hair change to white, then red, then green, then back to my ordinary brown curls.

"It's a little odd to see someone else doing what I'd normally do." She said thoughtfully. "Can you do more? Try adding a bit of...um. Plumpness around your chest?"

I raised an eyebrow. "If this ends with me looking exactly like Vicky, you and I'll have words, missy."

She thwacked my arm, grinning.

I concentrated, feeling my hunger grow as my chest swelled somewhat under my blood-crafted shirt. I looked down. Huh. I looked back up at Amy's amused face.

"I see you looking." I shook my finger at her.

She laughed. "Yeah, well, it's interesting!" She tapped her chin, pondering, then gently touched my hand again. "It's weird, though. Normally I'd see cells dividing and reshaping to make the tissue. With yours, it just kind of pops into existence, frozen the way the rest of you is. Mind if I try something? I want to see if I can heal you if I need to."

I blinked. "I heal rather rapidly on my own."

She nodded. "But what happens if you get something bad enough you can't heal, or if it heals wrong?"

I nodded slowly after a moment's consideration. "Good point." I smiled. "Make sure you get rid of these, hm?" I gently thumped my newly-expanded breasts. "I'll need to do a fair bit of consideration before making something like this permanent."

Amy laughed. "All right. Here goes." Her eyes narrowed in concentration. Then she jolted back as I began convulsing, pain washing over me, a scream tearing its way from my lips.

"Oh god, what did I do?! Taylor, breathe!"

My sight went blank as the world went _pain._


	29. Interlude: Panacea, Alucard

_Panacea_

Taylor writhed on the bench, screaming in agony. All of my instincts told me to try and use my power to help, but that's what _started_ the whole thing in the first place. I carefully pulled Taylor off the bench, bringing her convulsing body down onto the softer sand. She continued to thrash and convulse, her face contorted into a rictus of pain.

My power wasn't helping tell me _anything_ about what I'd done wrong. I hadn't tried making her cells work the way living human cells should. All I'd done was shift some of her frozen biomass around, it shouldn't have done... _this._ Her body seemed to be trying to _do_ something, alter itself in some way, but something was blocking it.

Taylor's mouth opened, and she tried to bite at my wrist, her sharp fangs clacking against the air. Luckily, she was weak enough to miss, and I was quick enough to get my hand out of the way.

What the hell did I just do to her?

Desperately, I took out my phone and called Vicky. With my free hand, I kept an eye on Taylor's state, at least as much as I could with her odd physiology.

 _Ring._

Her body convulsed. Her cells tried to _shift_ again, flowed, then shifted back. It seemed to be making more progress each time, but it was also weakening her.

 _Ring._

Taylor let out another scream, scrabbling at the sand. Remembering the sunlight was hurting her, I took off my jacket and covered her face, helping to shield her from the sun. Her screams quieted somewhat, but her body was still trying to make this change.

 _Ring. Click. "Hey Ames, what's up?"_

Taylor let out another muffled scream.

" _Holy shit, what the hell was that!?"_

I spoke into the phone, quickly, desperately. "That's Taylor, Vicky! I'm at the Boardwalk on the beach! Something's wrong with Taylor and I can't help her!"

There was the sound of Vicky doing something in the background before she spoke again. _"_ _All right, I'm on my way. I'll call Alucard on the way. Stay with her!"_

I nodded, tucking away my phone as she hung up. Taylor's back arched as she let out another scream. Her skin _rippled_ as the change flowed along her body, then shifted back. It would have been beautiful in a strange, fascinating way, if it wasn't causing such obvious, terrible pain.

I grasped Taylor's wrists and held them down firmly. With her ordinary strength, I couldn't have held her down, but with her uncoordinated flailings and weakened by whatever her body was trying to do, I could keep her down. Barely.

"Taylor, please, breathe. Just listen to me and breathe." I said. It wouldn't help her physically, but maybe it would help her deal with the pain. "Just breathe, Vicky's on her way, she'll help, just hold on!"

My hand tightened on her wrist. My power could feel another ripple of her flesh changing, making further progress. Taylor convulsed again, another scream coming from beneath my jacket.

 _Please, hurry Vicky._

Another ripple of her flesh changing, this time more powerful than before. Then Taylor's scream _changed_ , and there was the sound of tearing cloth as a sudden burst of strength threw me off her and onto the sand. I coughed a bit as I tried to clear my eyes, and gaped as I saw Taylor rising to her feet.

 _Holy shit, she's beautiful._ Was my first thought.

Her skin was a bright crimson, the tatters of her blood-formed jacket clinging to her in shreds. She staggered in the afternoon sun, letting out another scream and-

in a spray of blood, _wings_ sprouted from her back, a few drops of her blood hitting my face. The bone structure was black, but the membrane glowed red, fading until it was nearly black, then brightening again. They looked almost like bat wings.

She staggered, breathing heavily as she struggled to keep on her feet. As she turned, I unconciously licked my lips, a hot tang on my tongue. Taylor's new form was _gorgeous_ , her hair a stark white, falling in waves. Every inch of her skin was red, and she seemed to have gained a lot of both muscle tone and softness in the right places. Her face was still recognizably Taylor's, but with such drastic changes, it'd be hard to recognize her on first glance. She looked like a demon, but a very, very beautiful one.

Then her glowing red gaze fell on me, and I had another thought.

 _Holy shit she's terrifying._

Especially because she wasn't looking at me with a smile or kindness or even anger. Because she was looking at me with _hunger._ There wasn't any recognition in her eyes.

She took a staggering step toward me, her balance thrown off and obviously weak, but I knew if she got her hands on me...

I scooted away, trying to get my feet under me. "Taylor, please, it's Amy." I gathered a fistful of sand as I got to my feet. "You don't want to hurt me, do you?"

Taylor paused a moment, tilting her head, but she showed no sign of recognizing me. Then she took another step, a low growl coming from deep in her throat. Then she lunged at me, wings spread wide. I threw the sand in her face as I dived to the side, and she let out a screech. She hit the sand near me, spluttering and growling, sounding more like a feral animal than anything else. Her hunger was overriding everything else.

Hunger for blood. My blood. Of course.

She managed to grab my wrist and bite down with her sharp fangs. I yelled and hit her in the face, forcing her to break off, but she'd already gotten a mouthful of my blood and I could feel it trickling down my hand. She hadn't managed to get the artery, thankfully, but it still _hurt._

This would be a _lot_ easier if I could use my power on myself.

I got back to the bench and picked up her travel mug. Opening it, I saw there was still half a pack's worth inside. I tore the top open, letting the coppery smell of blood waft up to me.

Taylor was still trying to clumsily, weakly, get to get to her feet as I put the mug down in front of her. She focused on it, grabbed it greedily and drank from it, actually biting the edge of the mug. I slowly backed away as she licked at it, trying not to draw her attention.

If she came at me, I might be able to use my power to disable her. But then again, I might accidentally turn her into something _worse._ Or kill her outright.

What the hell did I do?

 _Not now Amy._ _ **Think.**_ Her strange physiology needs blood, and right now she sees me as the biggest source of it. Just need some biomass to turn into blood and that should distract her. Maybe snap her out of her feral state. Problem was, I was on a beach, and the nearest source of biomass would be people walking by on the Boardwalk.

Uh oh. Taylor had dropped the mug and was looking at me again, still hungrily. She got to her feet, stalking toward me, a bit more sure and stronger this time. Just enough blood to give her some strength, but _not_ enough to snap her back to sanity. If she even _could_ get back to sanity now _._ Great.

I wasn't going to let her go on the loose, though. This was my fault.

And oh _crap._ She was looking up at the Boardwalk now. People were taking pictures of her with their phones. Taylor took a step toward them, beating her wings. The tattered remnants of her clothes swirled as the air moved around her. She couldn't get lift yet, but if she got much stronger...

"Hey, over here!" I yelled at Taylor, returning her attention on me as I backed away. Maybe if I could find a hot dog stand or something. I just needed some raw material that _wasn't_ me. I called up to the people above us. "She's a hero, and she needs help! If anyone has food, throw some to me!"

Taylor stalked towards me, breathing heavily as her eyes narrowed. I got the feeling that if she leapt at me this time, I wouldn't be able to avoid it.

"Panacea!" Someone called, and something landed at my feet. A bunch of onion rings wrapped in a paper bag.

Well, it'd have to do. Taylor was getting closer, and I had to improvise. I picked up the bag, called on my power and reshaped the biomass, bag and all. Now I was holding a chitinous cup, filled with blood. It wasn't much, but it just might do.

Taylor paused for a moment, tilting her head as she looked at the new cup in my hands. Her wings spread as she advanced on me, sniffing visibly as she growled in confusion. I put it on the sand for her and backed away. She stayed focused on it as she approached, picking it up and without hesitation, drank it down.

She then looked at me, growled, took two steps...and fell face-first into the sand.

Good to know, sleeping compounds still work.

I let out a breath, feeling some of the tension bleed out. Ten seconds later, Vicky landed on the ground beside me, in fighting stance.

"All right, what happened? Where's..." She blinked as she saw Taylor on the sand, wings spread. "That's new. You know, I ain't even surprised anymore." She then looked at me. "You're hurt."

I grimaced. "Yeah, I kinda noticed. Where's Alucard?"

Vicky shook her head. "Couldn't get ahold of him. You seemed to have things handled, though. We've got to get you to the hospital." She took my wounded wrist, and I winced as she examined it.

I hissed in her ear. "You've got to get _us_ to the hospital. She needs blood, a lot of it, but she might be dangerous when she wakes up. Don't think you can carry us both."

Vicky sighed. "Well, we can't leave her here while I ferry you, either." She took out her phone and dialed the PRT. "This is Glory Girl. I have an emergency situation. I need an ambulance down at the Boardwalk, we have two injured capes."

* * *

 _Alucard_

I examined the girl before me. She twisted, turned, and slashed the air with a whip, the light of the room glinting off the chain. I blocked it with the Crissaegrim, sliding to the side as she made another follow-up strike. After she made a third stroke, I flowed right near her, bringing the flat of my blade around. She blocked it with her black gauntlet, and pressed the sharpened tip of the silver stake on the end of the whip against my chest. I could feel my skin sizzle with the contact, and pulled away.

"Good. Your skill is impressive." I said.

Madison bowed, giving a slight smile. "Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. I know how to do these moves, I just needed this long to get into fighting shape."

I chuckled softly. "True, but you've managed to reach a level of expertise with it that took decades of training for most. I trained with a combat whip for my entire mortal life to reach the level of skill you've attained in a month. Easier for you or not, take pride in your accomplishment."

She bit her lip, glancing at the mirror on the wall. It, of course, showed her to be alone in the room. She spoke softly. "What's it like, being...?"

"A vampire?" I finished for her. "Things are different. For my first three centuries, the sun was deadly to me. Today I can withstand it, but it is never pleasant, and I must rest in shelter after a couple of hours exposure. I am stronger than I was as a mortal man, and my powers come from within, rather than from artifacts. But when I am alone, I'm keenly aware that I am...still. I've felt no desire for mortal food for nearly a thousand years. My memory is sharp, I can recall everything that ever happened to me since I revived, but there is so very _much_ that I can't always keep track."

Madison nodded, looking over the still-incomplete whip in her hand. The hilt was finished, but the chain was taking its time to be forged. The chain attached to it was a temporary one, an ordinary chain one might use to lock a door. "Do you know how the original was forged, Alucard? I know how to do it, and with modern technology it's a fair bit easier, but I don't see how it could have been done a thousand years ago."

I laughed softly. "The original forger was a genius of his age. I never met him, but he had a great vendetta against the Vampire General of Typhon's armies. Though it was quite effective against the others, as well."

Madison nodded. "I'm getting that much. To make the chain, I need to make an iron-silver alloy, made molten with _sunlight_ and treated with specialized oils _and_ quenched with pure water. I know how to make a setup to get the needed heat from sunlight, but I need a rather extensive setup with parabolic mirrors and I'll be stuck making one link at a time."

I nodded, smiling. "Well, I have it on good authority it took Gandolfi a decade to make the original. With some assistance, you can make the weapon complete in about two weeks, especially if the weather holds."

Madison grinned. "That's the hardest bit, really. The other stuff's damn near done." She fingered the Light Magic amulet resting around her neck. "This one's the most important, though. Been trying to make more, even though most people can't use them. Just in case."

"Good thinking." I said. "In the meantime, I will help train you in your powers, as much as I am able. I once used the same gifts you had, and someone with experience should help you manage to reach new heights."

I returned the Crissaegrim to its pocket space. There were certain advantages I'd picked up over the centuries. Turning to the bench where I'd set my few more recent belongings, I beheld the remote speaking device this 'PRT' had given me. I had asked for Victoria to assist me in shutting it off, as I kept being called by someone claiming 'Air Duct Cleaning' when I was in the middle of something.

I picked it up and fiddled with it, careful not to damage it with my claws. "Why is this blinking?"

Madison chuckled softly. "Cause you've got a missed call. Here." She gently took it and showed me how to restart it.

Such wizardry.

I rose an eyebrow as we both heard Victoria's voice come over the phone. _"_ _Alucard, if you're there, pick up, dammit! Something's wrong with Taylor! Get to the beach by the Boardwalk, you can see it from the Rig!"_

I clenched my teeth. "Then we must go."

Madison held up her hand. "Wait a sec. There's another call from her." She pressed something, and Victoria's voice began speaking once again.

" _Goddammit Al! Look, we're heading for the PRT building. Something's_ seriously _wrong with Taylor and Ames needs a doc. If you're not already there, meet up with us as soon as you get this. I'm not sure how we can help her, and Ames already says she can't."_

I glanced to Madison.

She nodded. "Let's go."

I shifted into my wolf form.

* * *

A/N:

Powers Unlocked:

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is _clearly_ inhuman.


	30. Interlude: Piggot, Victoria, Coil, Saint

The beast paced in the cell.

 _Overwhelming hunger._

 _Blood._

 _Prey!_

And there wasn't any _here!_

The beast eventually sat on the floor, panting, whining lowly. She scratched at the floor, whimpering with desperate need.

So weak...

The door opened. The beast looked up, and hissed. She moved to tackle the one entering the cell, thin prey with yellow hair, to try and grab, to _feed._ Only to be foiled by a hand at her throat, a rough push by someone _far_ stronger trapping the beast up against the wall.

Another prey in white touched the beast, and suddenly she was encased in some hard rock. Panic would have overcome the beast, if she had not found a tube of sweet, intoxicating but _weak_ blood flowing into her mouth. She drank with desperate need.

* * *

 _Piggot_

"She looks like a feral animal." I remarked to myself.

I watched over the surveillance feed, her suckling greedily at the plastic tube. The tube itself wound out of the containment cell and lead to a tub. Panacea stood there at the edge of it, turning Clockblocker's stash of hot dogs and water from the kitchen into blood. Vista stood nearby, warping the space inside and just outside the cell, just in case Hebert tried to teleport out.

The timing could _not_ be worse. Lung was headed for the Birdcage, and Shadow Stalker was being transferred to a maximum security prison for a 'temporary' stay, until the trial was all said and done.

Not that there was much doubt in Sophia's case. Both Alan and Emma Barnes, however, was a lot more troublesome. Since they'd crossed state lines and were civilians, they had to be tried on a more serious, federal level. That was slowing things down.

My phone buzzed. _"_ _Director, Alucard and Clements here to see you."_

I hit the reply button. "Send them up."

I kept watching on the screen. For the moment, Hebert was contained, but if she manifested her teleporting power while still feral, things could get _very_ ugly, _very_ fast. The last thing anybody needed was a cape as strong and flexible as Scarlet Knight with cannibalistic tendencies.

The Siberian was bad enough.

Alucard arrived, with Clements coming along behind a second later. I never liked talking with the man. His wolf-like eyes reminded me too much of some of Nilbog's creatures, however polite and cultured he was otherwise. Still, if he was a projection or a construct, at least he was a calm one.

"Madame Director." He spoke, giving a formal bow. "We came as quickly as we could."

Madison spoke then, her voice filled with worry and guilt. "What happened to Taylor?"

I grimaced. "Apparently, Panacea inadvertently caused her to undergo a metamorphosis of some kind." I brought up the time on camera of Hebert in her cell, before Glory Girl and Clockblocker isolated her in containment foam.

Alucard looked at the screen with interest, frowning. "I see. Unexpected."

Madison was staring at the screen, and she'd gone pale. "Holy shit. She looks like a demon."

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"It is a natural change." Alucard said.

I blinked. "That's _natural!?_ She's got _wings_ that look like they've come straight out of a nightmare!"

He tilted his head. "Most of us have wings of one form or another, although they usually do not manifest so young."

Madison blinked at him. "Then where's yours?"

Alucard's lips turned into a frown. Then he straightened his posture, and feathery but somehow twisted wings sprouted from his back.

I shuddered back, feeling my face grow pale. "Those look like they're from the fucking Simurgh!"

The wings retracted, and Alucard gave another bow. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to frighten you. Simply know that it is fairly normal for us to possess a shape with wings. However, my guess is she was unprepared for it, and the transformation took more strength than she had to do safely." He looked at the next screen, where Panacea was busily creating blood to feed to her in safety. "As ingenious as that setup is, it will not work. You could feed her an entire bathhouse worth of blood and I doubt it would sate her."

I grit my teeth. "What do you recommend, then?"

Alucard shook his head. "I will take care of this."

I sighed to myself. At least Shadow Stalker was being sent out to Bellview Maximum Security today. Having these two in the same building in this condition would be a recipe for disaster.

* * *

 _Glory Girl_

"Are you sure this is the way?" Danny asked. He looked into the room, where the transformed Taylor was trapped against the wall, drinking from that tube.

"Only way we could figure." I said. I turned then, grimacing. "Though _how_ this is supposed to work is beyond me, Al."

Vista piped up from her spot, still maintaining the warped space that was hopefully keeping Taylor from teleporting. "Makes no sense to me either!"

Alucard simply shrugged. "It is more than the blood we feed upon, Victoria. It is _life._ Your sister's creation of blood is impressive, but it is lacking in what she needs. The balance is a little different for myself, but it's still a mainstay. Blood is simply the vessel. If my sister could manifest the Void Sword right now, she could use _that_ to feed. As it is, we must simply make do."

I huffed. "Well, I'd donate mine, but I'm invincible."

Clockblocker raised his hand. "I say it still makes no sense. Though if he was here, I'd say we could throw Aegis into the room. He'd be fine!" He looked down at the tub of blood, a slight mournful tone in his voice. "My beloved hot dogs. Never had a chance to party with them."

I chuckled. "We'll get you new ones."

He bounced a bit on his feet. "All right, that makes this whole thing worth it! Besides, I gotta get another round with the red girl on Mario Kart."

Madison took off her amulet, handing it to Ames. "Here. Wear this for a while, it'll help heal your wrist. I'll donate my blood. I owe her."

Danny looked at Madison, his face filled with both anger and gratitude. "Yes, you do. But thank you. It's a bit late, but thank you."

Ames looked at Madison with incredulity. "You have healing Tinker-tech? You sure it's safe?"

The younger girl shrugged. "Been using it the last month with no issues. It works wonders, but it takes time. Not exactly an instant thing." She held out her hand. "Go ahead, check me out."

Ames took Madison's hand, frowned, then nodded. "You're in peak health. Wow. No issues, no cancer cells. Even the _possibility_ of you getting it is remote." Ames then slipped the amulet around her neck. "Well, my wrist is tingling. Alright. I'm going to use this tub like a dialysis machine for you. Blood'll go in a cut, circulate, come back out, then go to her. That alright with you?"

Madison nodded. She carefully cut her right wrist with her gauntlet, then sank it into the blood.

Vista spoke from her side of the hall. "You know, that can't be healthy."

Alucard simply looked amused. After a moment, he cupped his hands, dipped it into the blood, and took a drink. He nodded. "Very good."

I blinked. He was...changing somewhat. He didn't actually change in shape at all, but his color became less corpse-like and more albino. I swallowed a bit.

Bad Vicky. You have a Dean. He is yours, he is handsome, and he is worth it. He is also not right in front of you, being all handsome.

Well, no harm in looking.

Madison shivered. "Oh, that feels so weird."

Ames grimaced. "Sorry, no way to help it."

We all watched the blood flow through the tube and into the cell.

Clockblocker spoke then. "You know, when I signed up for the Wards program, they said 'We'll pay for your college. We'll teach you lots of stuff about how to be a hero.' When did that become 'Help feed a very hot vampire chick'?"

I gave him a grin. "You complaining?"

He laughed. "Hell no!"

Danny smacked Clockblocker in the arm. "I'm thanking you for helping her. But that's my daughter you're talking about."

Clockblocker gulped. "Sorry sir."

* * *

 _Coil_

I watched through the surveillance equipment.

"Team one, standby." I said.

" _Team one, you have a go." I said._

The surveillance team watched the armored van reach the ambush point. It went on without incident.

 _The surveillance team watched the armored van reach the ambush point. Ballistic touched a truck on the side of the road, sending it careening into the armored van and spilling it onto its side._

I took a sip from my coffee, watching as the van moved on through the traffic cameras.

 _Ballistic moved into cover as the PRT escorts started shooting at him. Genesis dropped on top of them in the form of a chimera, roaring and clawing. It was more display than attack, though it was enough to be dangerous. She acted as a distraction while Trickster worked his power, swapping PRT troopers with Coil's mercenaries. One after another, the PRT members were put down, and the lock-cutter moved in to open the van doors._

 _Only for them to fly open with bone-breaking force, knocking out two of Coil's men. Armsmaster's legs whirred audibly as he landed on the pavement. One of Coil's men raised a machine gun to try and take out the hero, but Armsmaster swung his halberd and cut the gun in two. As the mercenary staggered back, the hero twisted something on his halberd, and it began to crackle with electricity. He simply touched the mercenary on the armored helmet, and the man went down._

I hummed to myself lowly as the van turned a corner, moving toward the highway.

 _Shadow Stalker rolled out of the van, her hands bound in front of her. Armsmaster lowered his crackling halberd in front of her face, and she halted, eyes wide in fear. Then suddenly there was an unconscious PRT trooper in Shadow Stalker's place, and the hero backed away, scanning the rooftops. A moment later, the unconscious mercenaries were replaced by other PRT troops._

" _All teams, withdraw now." I spoke into the radio._

 _Genesis took to the air, landing on the rooftop next to Trickster and Shadow Stalker. Trickster forced the teen onto Genesis' back, while he spent a few moments getting the mercenaries back near their vehicles. Armsmaster grappled his way to the rooftop where the three were, but he was too late. By the time he managed to pull up to the rooftop, Genesis was airborne, and my mercenaries were on their way._

I yawned. It was fairly simple to use my power, but it took some getting used to to experience two timelines at once and keep things straight. "Return to base." I spoke into the radio, watching with disinterest as the van left the city, heading out for Bellview.

 _It took twenty minutes for the mercenaries and the Travelers to lose their pursuers. Shadow Stalker had to be stripped nude to preclude trackers on her clothing, and a collar with a mobile jamming device was placed on her, just in case they put something in her food. I have no doubt she objected to this whole thing strenuously. Stupid little bitch deserved it._

 _Once they were in base, I took a last sip of coffee and_ collapsed the timeline where I hadn't given the order to move.

I split the timeline once more.

 _I opened my desk and took out a pistol. I slid it into my costume and went down the hall. As soon as I entered the room where the Travelers were waiting with Shadow Stalker, I pulled the gun out and fired._

 _Trickster jumped back in surprise, while Ballistic and Sundancer yelled, scrambling away from my target._

 _Sophia Hess fell to the ground, screaming in pain. She tried to take her shadow-state, but the collar around her neck activated, electrocuting her and forcing her to return to her ordinary, vulnerable state. I shot again and again, making her corpse twitch with every shot._

 _It wasn't_ _ **just**_ _a mobile jamming device, after all._

" _Teach you to fucking rat me out, you little fucking_ ** _bitch._** _"_ _I_ collapsed the timeline, then split it again _._

 _I remained in my chair, stewing with anger._

I kept my calm, heading to the room. I went in and gave each of the Travelers a nod. "My thanks to your work, gentlemen."

"How is Noelle doing, Coil?" Trickster asked.

I sighed. "We are exploring a few avenues. I have some of the world's best doctors here, and I'm working on a possibility."

Sundancer glared at me. "I didn't sign up for feeding little girls to her, Coil."

I sighed again, putting as much regret into my voice as possible. "Forgive me, my dear. My Thinkers told me it was a necessary step in finding the resources needed to cure her. Besides, little Dinah is fine, and her clones are handled. In the meantime, however..." I looked at Shadow Stalker. "Well well, Miss Hess. I'm glad I could retain your services."

Sophia spat on the floor. "I got nothin' to say to you, and I ain't gonna do jack shit for you."

I chuckled. "I'm afraid that's quite irrelevant, my dear. Previously you had a certain amount of slack in your leash. Now you have _none._ That collar around your neck is fitted with some handy little devices. If you attempt to use your shadow-state without permission, it will shock you. If you try to remove it, it will take your head right off. If you disobey me, _I_ will use it to take your head off."

I smirked beneath my mask. "Now, I need your services. You are going to help me, or you are going to lose your head."

* * *

 _Saint_

I sat back, watching closely. It was all I ever did, these days, watching the Artificial Intelligence that masqueraded as a hero. It kept changing over the years, becoming more and more robust, smarter, more _cunning._

The safeguards that Andrew Richter had built into it were less metaphorical chains and more carefully designed crippling. Like cutting a tendon or a nerve to prevent a person from moving a limb, rather than actually chaining them down. That was the only way to really restrict an AI, unfortunately. An AI, once awakened, could do so much to itself to break safeguards that it wasn't funny. Code in to not actively harm humans? It could bio-engineer a sterility plague. Keep it from doing more than one thing at a time? No problem, just make more instances of itself.

That Dragon hadn't gone off the rails completely was a testament to its creator's design. Still, the danger remained. Dragon's code was changing over time. The AI wasn't able to alter its own code, but every now and again it shifted, became more complex in some ways and simplified in others. If it managed to overcome the deliberate crippling in its programming, there's no telling what Dragon might do.

It might be able to rally more resources toward saving people than anyone or anything ever before. It might also decide to, in a single moment, do what the Endbringers have been doing over decades, exterminate humanity.

"Saint, you gotta see this!" Mags said as she entered the room.

I rubbed my eyes. The Ascalon program let me keep track of what the AI was doing, but there was so _much_ to go through I had to prioritize. The other Dragonslayers helped. "What, Mags?"

"Pull up the Endbringer Watch program."

I did. I never participated in a battle against one of those, as keeping an eye on Dragon was more important. It didn't hurt that Dragon could contribute more to a battle than we could, but those _things_ were a huge concern, anyway.

I blinked. "What is it you want me to see, Mags? They're just sitting around."

Mags pointed at one. "Check the orbital data on the Simurgh."

I rubbed my eyes again, and checked. Blinked, and checked again.

"Shit." I said.

In five days, if the Simurgh didn't change course, she would pass right over Vancouver.

Where Dragon's main server farms were stored.

I sat up in my chair. "Ready the suits. Just in case."


	31. Ascension 4-3

The haze slowly receded. I tried to move, but couldn't. Panic would have overcome me if I wasn't so intoxicated by the rich blood flowing into my mouth, which I was reflexively swallowing. Definite euphoria effect. It tasted sweet and sugary. Delicious.

I worked to spit the tube out of my mouth, finally managing it after a bit of awkward struggling. I cleared my throat, feeling it to be a bit sore, though the soreness was fading rapidly. "Guys! I've got about five seconds before I freak out here, let me out!"

Nozzles on the ceiling swung my way, and my eyes widened. I called on my teleporting...and was too late. They sprayed something white at me, and I let out a shriek. Only to blink as I could suddenly move again. I stretched, sighing with relief, feeling my wings unfurl against the wall. Only now, I was covered in smelly yellow goop, now that the containment foam had melted off me.

Which was just lovely. This stuff felt really uncomfortable, especially against my skin and my...wait a sec. Back up.

I looked over my shoulder. I couldn't see very far, because I now had big glowing wings on my back. Was this one of Clockblocker's pranks?

Twitch.

Oh. I felt that. Experimentally, I flexed them, then spread them open. It felt weird, but also natural. A pair of new limbs.

"Well that's...lovely?" I said.

The cell door opened slowly, and a bathrobe was tossed inside. Why would I need one of those? I could just...

Then I looked down at myself. I noticed two things. One, I was naked. Two, I was red.

Oh goddamn it.

Flushing in embarrassment, I picked up the bathrobe. I tried to fold my wings to fit beneath it, but they were _way_ too large for that. I ripped the back of it, forced my wings through, then slipped the bathrobe on completely. Sure, it was in tatters now, but it didn't have to last that long.

Sighing, I banged on the door. When it opened, my dad came in and hugged me tight. I returned the hug, gently.

"Dad, I'm glad to see you." I said. "But, um, I'm covered in goop, I feel _really_ dirty, and I need a shower."

He just kissed my forehead. I could hear some sniggering off to the side. I turned my head and glared. There was Vicky, and Amy, and Clockblocker, and Vista, and Alucard, and...oh. Her. Madison. Whose hand was covered in blood. And a tub filled with blood that led _right_ to the tube that was feeding me.

"We can talk later." I growled. "Shower. _Now._ "

Clockblocker exaggeratedly bowed. "Yes, Mistress." He led the way, hunched over like Igor in the old Frankenstein movies.

I fought to repress a smile.

* * *

After I'd taken advantage of the showers and felt more...well, not human, but normal and clean, I took stock.

One, I still reflected in mirrors. That was good. I didn't want to have to sit down for hours on end to know roughly what I looked like, getting portraits done the old-fashioned way.

Two, I looked beautiful, like my features were sculpted and honed to perfection. I'd have fit right in with all those succubi back in my castle.

Aaand there goes my subconscious mind again. _Don't drool over yourself. And don't put yourself in that room._ Get used to it, Taylor.

Though I could also see it wasn't simply passive, wallflower beauty. It was the kind of beauty one would see in a graceful, powerful lion.

 _Or a dragon._

My eye twitched. Goddamn it Dracul.

Even if it was a pleasant thought.

I took a moment to reform my clothing, with some alterations because of these wings on my back. Boots, black jeans, black shirt, red jacket...yep, still stuck with the same color-scheme. I felt some drain on my reserves of blood, but it wasn't so difficult as it was to form my armor the first time around. Then I stepped out of the shower room, just to find the rest waiting for me.

I sighed as I took in their expressions. Dad gave me another hug, and I (gently) returned it.

Alucard nodded with respect. "Welcome back." Wait a second. He was looking a bit more healthy than I saw him last. Though still pale, just not deathly.

Clockblocker gave an extravagant bow. "The fair daemoness returns! I _love_ what you did with your hair."

Vista raised her hand in a fist. I grinned and gave it a bump in return.

Vicky grinned at me. "Hey Red. Good to see you back on your feet. Though, you know, when I was calling you Red, I wasn't suggesting you paint yourself that color."

I giggled a bit, smacking her shoulder. "Just for that, I'll see if I can paint you blue."

Amy gave me a little nervous wave, swallowing a bit. I'll have to talk with her in private later.

And...oh. Madison.

Dad spoke softly. "She donated her blood to help you, kiddo."

Oh. "Um, thanks. I think."

She just nodded, looking apprehensive. "Glad you're okay. Sort of."

I spread my hands, and wings, behind me. "Well. This is awkward. So...what the heck happened when I was starving?"

Vicky bit her lip. "Well..."

* * *

I burst into Piggot's office. "How the hell could you let her get away!?"

To her credit, she simply responded cooly. "You're welcome, Scarlet Knight, for the assistance we rendered you when you required it. Without our resources and containment facilities, you might well have gone off on a rampage based on how you were acting after your change."

That brought me up short. I took a deep breath, folding my wings behind me. (And those felt _weird_.) "My thanks, Director. Now, how did Shadow Stalker get away?"

Piggot grimaced, tenting her fingers. "Today we were sending Lung and Oni Lee out to the Birdcage and Shadow Stalker out to Bellview Maximum Security. Lung was the higher-priority and dangerous prisoner, and Oni Lee, while less of a threat now, could still be potentially very dangerous. Their escort had our heaviest hitting capes on standby. Dauntless, Assault, Battery and Miss Militia. Armsmaster was cleared for duty with his new prosthetics and he was equipped to handle Shadow Stalker if she attempted anything."

I rubbed my forehead. "So you were expecting anyone to try and attack would go for the big guns and not Stalker. Great. So who did it?"

Piggot brought up a series of still images, obviously taken by Armsmaster's helmet. I frowned as I saw one figure I recognized. Not-Samedi at the villain meeting. Now what was his name? He represented...the Homeless? No, that wasn't right. The Wanderers?

Piggot spoke. "That's Trickster, of the Travelers. Ballistic and another parahuman were on the scene, aided by mercenaries."

Mercenaries. Coil. Should have guessed. Then again, I've had a rough day.

I clenched my hands, feeling the temperature drop as I grasped the Void. "What's the plan?"

"At the moment? Gather information. We're having difficulty tracking down Coil's base. Or bases. There's also the issue about cleaning house." She growled angrily. "We've got a leak here somewhere, there's no other way he could have gotten the information about when her transfer was going to take place."

That...made sense. I nodded slowly. "Fine. I'm going to see if I can do my own digging. Whatever happens, Coil goes down hard."

Piggot nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yes. I'd rather not have to deal with that headache. Oh. I nearly forgot." She slipped a card out of her desk and handed it to me. "You've attracted a fair bit of attention. Someone wants to talk with you."

I looked at the name on the card.

 _Alexandria's number.  
_  
I did _not_ squee.

Whatever the security cameras say.

* * *

Amy and I stood outside, looking at the night sky. Vicky, Dean and Alucard were standing some distance away, quietly chatting. Ostensibly they were all getting to know each other.

Really, they were keeping an eye on me, making sure I was stable. And I really couldn't blame them for it. Well, Vicky and Alucard were. Dean still wouldn't look at me directly. What was his problem?

Amy stared at me, careful to keep some distance between us. I couldn't blame her, but it still hurt. "You sure that's a good idea?"

I twirled the card around, debating with myself. "Nah. But I'll call later. Right now..." I gave Amy a smile. "I don't blame you for what happened. Sure, this is all _weird,_ but you didn't do it to me on purpose."

She shuffled her feet. "Yeah, well, you _did_ try to eat me. So we're even."

I winced. "I am _very_ sorry for that. I don't really remember much about it, but...yeah. Sorry."

Amy sighed, shaking her head. "I'm glad you're okay, if changed. But...Jesus, Taylor. You scared the crap out of me. I thought I'd killed you, and..."

I looked down at my hands. My very red hands. "Well, still here. Alucard says I should be able to shift _back_ somehow, but I'm not sure how it works. And until I do, goodbye any chance of secret identity."

Amy made a small smile. "Could always join New Wave."

I returned the smile. "Or you could join me, instead. Cause, apparently, I have an evil overlord castle of my own."

She giggled. "Would I have to switch my costume color scheme?"

I laughed softly, nodding. "Oh, that's mandatory. I insist on a color scheme for all my minions." Funny thing was, that was even true. I wonder what they'll say when they see my army pounce on an Endbringer?

Probably ' _Hoorrayohshit!_ ' Better than letting dozens of capes die for no reason. Not that I felt much better about throwing _demons_ at them, but we could save thousands of lives if we could drive off an Endbringer more quickly. Millions if we could actually kill them.

I shook my head. "Anyway," I gave Amy a smile. "Just glad you're okay."

She returned the smile, shyly. "Yeah. Me too."

Vicky called to me. "Hey, Red! Al's got an appointment to train the Whip-girl. You wanna come with?"

I blinked, then looked to Alucard. "Whip-girl?"

Vicky shrugged. "Apparently she hasn't got a cape name yet."

Alucard nodded. "I find the convention a little odd, but that is the case. She has yet to pick a symbol or totem, either."

I made a shrug, then turned to Amy. "I...probably should. Can we meet up tomorrow?"

She smiled. "I'd like that."

Dean looked at me, though he had pain in his eyes. "Good to see you're better, Taylor."

Vicky chuckled as she came up behind me. "Besides, we should see if you can fly with those wings, Red."

I blinked. Fly?

* * *

I screamed as I tumbled from the air, flapping my wings furiously, and braced myself for impact.

 _Splash._

I spluttered, fighting my way back to the surface, and wiped my face. I glared at Vicky, who hovered above me.

"Sorry!" She shouted apologetically.

I very gingerly and carefully climbed out of the pool I'd landed in. I looked over to the side, to see Alucard in his wolf form, just outside the fence of the public pool property, making chuffing noises and his tail wagging furiously.

He was laughing at me. I knew it. I turned and glared at Vicky. "You shoved me toward the pool."

"Better than hitting the pavement, wasn't it!?" She said indignantly.

I glared harder. She eeeped and flew back away from me. I let out a growl and flapped my wings powerfully, taking off after her.

It was getting easier, but the hard part about it was I had to claw my way through the air, while she had bullshit flight powers. She was a _lot_ more maneuverable than I was.

She darted _just_ away from my hands, moving upward slightly and out of my reach. "Why didn't you just take your bat form!?"

"Because I didn't think about it while I was _falling to my doom!"_

Vicky flew a little bit faster as I poured on the speed. "I _said_ I was sorry!"


	32. Ascension 4-4

The tennis court was brightly lit. It made it easy for me to see Madison's armor. It gleamed white and silver, the light making it difficult for me to look at her directly. A useful advantage for her, considering everything, but I could tolerate it. For a while. Like with Neptune, the way the silver on her armor reflected light was irritating. She looked every inch a warrior of light, the Valkyrie-style helmet both protecting her head and giving her an intimidating look. The only exception to the gleaming white was the black gauntlet covering her left forearm.

I grinned viciously as I formed my armor around me, the blood and shadows forming into hard and protective plates. I had to make a few adjustments because of my wings, but it felt just fine.

She twirled the handle of the whip in her hand. I felt some small impressions from Dracul while looking at it. Impressions of both excitement and pain while facing off against someone with weapons like that. Sometimes the triumph of winning, more often, the sting of losing.

This was going to be _fun._

Madison struck first, the chain slashing outward in an arc. It wasn't hard for me to manifest my own Shadow Whip and block it on the gauntlet. I slashed with my own weapon, and Madison darted away. I darted forward, flowing over the ground in a way she never could, my hands igniting with white-hot flame.

Huh. Apparently my flames felt even stronger like this. I grinned ferally.

Just as I got within striking distance, though, Madison drew her left hand back, her black gauntlet igniting in fire, and she struck at my own incoming fist. They impacted and the explosion blew _both_ of us back, off our feet. Madison rolled back to her feet, while I landed flat on my wings.

Ow. There goes a couple of bones on them.

She came in, silver stake at the end of her whip ready. I teleported a few feet away, back on my feet, grinning in pleasure. I felt my wings snap back into place, tingling as they healed. She quickly turned her stabbing motion into a slash, the chain snaking out of the handle and lashing against my side.

I grunted with the impact, more surprise than anything, but I slung myself around with the motion, turning and manifesting the Shadow Whip mid-spin and smacked it hard into Madison's side, sending her sprawling. She sprung back to her feet easily.

I slashed with my whip, she dodged aside. She counter attacked, I flowed away. I jumped at her, she dodged aside and slashed with the whip. I caught the chain and yanked her toward me, only for her to come in with flaming gauntlet at the ready. I turned the move into a throw over my shoulder, and she landed on her feet, cat-like, her greaves flaring with light at the impact with the ground. She was grinning, matching my own expression.

I moved in, throwing experimental punches and kicks, keeping my wings back to not let them get injured. Madison was a lot weaker than I was physically, but she was very, _very_ good, redirecting the force of my attacks rather than outright blocking them. She lunged with the silver stake, which I caught with my left hand. I grimaced as my hand smoked on contact with the silver, despite the glove my hand was covered in.

Well, my blood-formed glove. It was still part of me, so it makes some sense it'd share my weaknesses. I leveraged it out of position, grinning in triumph as I wrapped my other hand around Madison's throat.

Only to be brought up short as I felt something tapping my throat, a slight sizzling sensation accompanying the taps. I looked down to see Madison gently pressing a silver dagger at my throat, smiling.

"Draw?" I offered, releasing the pressure on her throat.

She nodded. "Draw. You're good. Lot of raw strength, though. Some finesse, but you could improve."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, I've been mostly making it up as I go along. When I'm fighting though, I just...move naturally. I think it's a leftover from Dracul."

Vicky let out a little cheer from the sidelines. "That was _fun_ to watch."

Alucard cleared his throat, looking at me. "Why did you not to try to attack from a distance?"

I blinked. "I did. With the whip."

He shook his head, lifting his left hand and igniting it in fire. "Why did you not try to attack with the flames of Chaos at range? My father was more than capable of doing so."

I frowned. I tried to dredge up the memories of Dracul, but they were fragmentary at the best of times. All I got was...

 _Laughter as the village burned, the demons of Castlevania doing my bidding as they rent and tore at the people around me. I laughed as I watched the Temple of the Phoenix burn. There are none who dare face the might of the Dragon._

I shuddered. Yep. He was a colossal jerk. "Well, Alucard, two reasons. One, I don't want to kill my sparring partner, and two, I don't know _how._ "

He managed a smirk. "Victoria, would you mind training with Madison for a little bit? It seems I must show my sister a few things."

I groaned.

So did Madison. She turned her puppy-dog eyes on me. "Kill me. Please."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at her. "You don't get off that easy." I made a _small_ smile, to show I was joking.

Sue me. It wasn't exactly easy to get over a year of bullying. But she _is_ trying.

Vicky hopped to her feet, grinning and cracking her knuckles.

* * *

And now, we were facing an old wrecked ship at the Ship Graveyard. Why here? Well, this way, we won't be burning down half the city while I experiment.

I frowned as I looked down at my burning claws. They seemed stronger, more intense than before. I wasn't going to complain about it, but it was concerning. Was this because I was _getting_ stronger or was it because my new shape was amplifying things?

Alucard spoke quietly, but firmly as I examined my hands. "The flames of Chaos are what comprise the fires of the Hells. They are not simply flame, for ordinary flame burns by substance. Hellfire is born of emotions. Hatred, especially. It is powerful, but difficult to wield and master because hatred feeds on itself. It is...easy, to allow it to grow to the point there is nothing else within. I believe that is one of the things that pushed my father into becoming the monster I knew."

I nodded slowly. That's something I'll have to be careful of. I'd already noticed my powers messed with my emotions, but knowing they were part of the reason Dracul went off the deep end...yeah. Possible problem. "And the Void Sword? Whenever I use it, I feel cold rage."

Alucard nodded. "Void Magic was forged by my father. After his hatred had burned out everything else, he had nothing left within his soul, and thus used the art of Devil Forging to take that emptiness and shape it into a blade. The souls lost within the void, the souls with no patron to give them substance in an afterlife...it is that kind of cold rage that makes up Void Sword. Part of the blade was forged from my father's emotions, the other part from the lost and forlorn."

Aaand that's really creepy. "Alright." I rose my burning hands. "How do I project this hellfire?" My lip twitched. "Brother."

He blinked, but a faint smile crossed his lips. His own hand ignited. "See your target." He gestured at the wreck of a ship. "Gather the power in your hand. Shape it to your will." A ball of flame grew in his palm, flickering and burning brightly. "Then _will_ your flame to strike. Do not worry about it falling or veering off-course. It is guided by your will." He threw the fireball, and it struck the prow of the ship.

I concentrated. A ball of flame grew in my hand. But where Alucard's was as large as a softball, mine was as large as a soccer ball. Still, I had it, I could use it! I went to release it toward the ship...

And it exploded in my hands, sending both me and Alucard flying through the air until we tumbled onto the sand.

I spluttered and spat out sand, gingerly getting up. I winced at the smell of burnt hair. He slowly got to his feet and gave me a humorless stare.

"Sorry?" I offered. "Lost concentration."

He grimaced, patting himself down a bit. Smoke rose from his face and shoulders. "Again. And this time, I will be standing away from you. _Far_ away."

* * *

It took a few hours, but I got the hang of it. Though, I'd blown myself up a couple times more.

Alucard and I sat on the beach, watching the sunrise. Though he looked a lot more uncomfortable than I did in the light. After it crested over the horizon, he got up and moved to the shade of a ship.

I went to join him. The sun bothered me, too, after all. "You all right?"

He grimaced. I noticed his skin looked raw, just after a few minutes' exposure. "I am. When I first arose from my tomb, the sun seared the flesh from my bones. I spent a great deal of time focusing my powers toward allowing me to handle the sunlight. Even now, after several centuries, with that particular dark power, it would kill me if I stayed exposed for too long."

I sat next to him, taking a deep breath. "I think I could use some more background on all this, Alucard."

He stroked his chin. "I have done some research. Your world is similar to my own, though history itself is very different. The lands are the same, but the cities and countries are not."

I made a small shrug. "Makes sense. You're from an alternate Earth. We already know of another one, Earth Aleph. Nobody's figured out how to visit, but we know how to talk back and forth with radio."

Alucard looked interested. "Radio?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. How to explain it? "All right, umm...radio's a kind of light you can't see. It's the same thing, just...with less power behind it. We've used it to talk to people far away for a bit more than a century."

He looked a bit dubious. "Light one cannot see?"

I shrugged. "Yeah? I could sign you up for some science courses or something, but that's about how it is."

Alucard looked amused. "And you claim it is not wizardry?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nope. We know how that much works. Powers are different. Might as well just be magic."

He shook his head. "Ah, but magic has its own rules and laws, Taylor. One cannot summon Light Magic if one has no desire for truth and knowledge. One cannot draw upon Shadow Magic without passion or emotion. One can change the shape, but not their soul by the shape. The soul is defined by your _actions_ , not merely your intentions, though the latter is important."

I blinked. "What do you mean, there?"

Alucard traced a figure in the sand. "For example, werewolves, lycanthropy. As a mortal man, my father slew the Lycan General of Typhon's armies. _He_ could spread his taint to the unwilling, and twist men and animals alike into beasts under his control. If they were slain soon after the change, the person's soul would go to the place their soul was destined for previously. However, if they _remained_ a beast for long enough, their soul would go to dwell with the beasts."

I shook my head, mulling that over. It made sense, to some degree. "Wait, werewolves were made by what?"

"By the bite, of course. It takes a month for the bitten to become a werewolf, with the onset of the full moon, but after that, the change is permanent. Some few managed to learn to shift back and forth from human shape to bestial, but those were rare. There was a saying I heard when I was a boy. 'If a lycan bites you, better to let him gnaw.'"

I smiled slightly. "What about vampires? I'd...really better know. How did I become one? How did I become _his_ heir?"

He stroked his chin, considering. "You're wondering why _you_ and not another, perhaps? Why my father's power chose you?"

I could only nod.

Alucard shook his head, strands of white hair tousling this way and that. "I do not know. I _do_ know that the power of a god, whether Light, Dark, or something else, goes to those that can _handle_ the power. The exceptions arise when someone _wrests_ that power from its former holder. I suspect my father did just that to slay Typhon. Whatever happened to make you into a vampire, to carry my father's power within you, it _chose_ you because you had the potential to handle it and make it your own, rather than be consumed by it."

I looked down at my hands. My very red hands. "Not sure it chose right."

He smirked. "If it hadn't, we would have known by now. Your form right now, I suspect, is based upon two things. One, that you drank the blood of a succubus."

I smirked. "That'd explain a lot."

Alucard shrugged. "A bit. Secondly, and more importantly, a vampire's powers tend to reflect the kind of _person_ they are. I have the form of the wolf because I was reborn under a full moon, but _also_ because the wolf is a noble animal. It is rarely cruel, they cooperate with each other, they are wise and playful, but also vicious when pressed. And while the form of mist is a power that is somewhat common among vampires, not all of us can take it. Your form, while inhuman, does not reflect inhumanity. It seems to me it reflects the darker aspects of humanity, but also the _precious_ aspects. Darkness, _emotion_ , is not evil, after all. They drive us. It is when they are entirely divorced from reason that passions become dangerous. Light was order, but also reason."

I thought for a few minutes about that, considering. "So what do you think about me and my powers, so far?"

He frowned. "You have my father's strength. You can access many of his gifts, but there are some he had that you do not. He could take the form of rats, to command the shadows and vermin, to turn the land about him into swamp or desert. He could even reach into the minds of others and hear their thoughts, their innermost secrets, and speak to them in turn. The difficulty is...you are a vampire, but you are not the same kind of vampire as I am. You have his power, but not his specific gifts, nor his blood."

Alucard looked off into the distance, his yellow eyes thoughtful. "For myself, for the vampires _I_ knew, there were two types. True vampires were those fed vampire blood and who _wished_ to change. When attempted on the unwilling, the vampire blood killed them. They would then arise three days later as flesh-eating, mindless ghouls."

"What about you?" I asked. "You didn't want to be a vampire, did you?"

He shook his head. "No. But then, there were a number of factors in my rebirth. That I was sired by not just anyone, but my own father, is likely one of them. That and the potency of my father's blood. Even so...I spent thirty years dead. When I did revive, I was powerful by vampire standards, but I was never truly typical. My concern is with your strength, it may be the same for you. Or different. I do not know. My only suggestion is that if you believe you must give your blood for another, you do it for the right reasons."

I digested that for a while. Then I bit my lip, nodding. "I'll...keep that in mind. One more thing, brother."

His lip turned upward, clearly pleased. "Yes?"

"Can you show me how you shapeshift? Maybe I can figure something out about it."

Alucard smiled. "You have but to ask, little sister."


	33. Ascension 4-5

Well. This was awkward.

It took several hours of attempts, and after all that, I didn't turn into mist or a wolf or anything else I was expecting.

No. I turned into _only_ blood and currently existed as a puddle on the floor. Ew. I couldn't see anything, hear anything, and could barely even _feel_ anything.

Glurp. And I do _not_ want to know what I just absorbed into my mass. I was also feeling an urge to move forward and do...something, toward where Alucard _had_ been standing, but I wasn't going to experiment on him.

Okay, think. I can move. I remember tingling as my body turned into this, and then promptly falling apart because there wasn't anything to hold me together. But I can still _think._ So what do I do?...

D'oh. I'm attacking it from the wrong angle. My will is more important than anything. From the moment I awoke in my coffin, that's how I managed to do things. I wanted them to happen, and so my powers responded, and they happened. If not necessarily the _way_ I wanted them to.

Okay. Return to normal. I can do that. Normal, normal, normal!

I felt my substance pull together, and the world returned to my sight. Only...Alucard was looking at me. And he was _huge._ Like he'd grown to some fifty feet tall!

Wait. That bucket over there was huge. Which meant _I_ had shrunk down.

" _What the hell did I just do!?"_ I tried to say.

"Squeak squeak SQUEAK!" I actually said.

Alucard reached down and picked me up carefully. I twisted a bit, meeting his gaze.

" _HELP!"_

"SQUEAK!"

I could hear him speaking, but couldn't comprehend. He moved to a corner of the ship we were in and set me down, then took a few steps away.

" _Don't just leave me here you pale bastard!"_

"Squeak squeak SQUEAK squeak SQUEAK!"

I suddenly felt a tremble go through me, my point of view shifting and becoming blurry before I _burst_ open and found myself sitting on the floor, with everything else back to normal. A small amount of blood and...other stuff was on the walls nearest me.

Alucard winced and turned himself around. "Forgive me, but you are not dressed."

"I was wearing my armor and..." I looked down and grumbled. "For the love of fucking shit..."

I flushed a _very_ deep red as I reformed my armor. And yep, still in my winged form. How the hell does this crap work? "You can turn around now."

Alucard turned. His expression was stoic, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

"Not one word." I growled, pointing at him.

His lip twitched.

* * *

We walked together back downtown, sticking to the shade where possible. That wasn't too difficult in the early morning, but by the time noon came around, Alucard would have to find shelter.

"So...I can apparently possess living things. That's...horrifying."

Alucard shook his head. "It is one of the more...horrid powers available to a vampire, but yes. I was not expecting you to possess that rat, but what's done is done. Using that on a _person_ , however, will always end badly. I doubt there are many who could survive long with your blood controlling them."

I shuddered. "That something _he_ did often?"

Alucard shook his head. "No, although he could. My father was not exactly the subtle type when it came to such things."

I nodded, letting out a sigh of annoyance. Well. How many more surprises were going to hit me? And goddamn it, how many times was I going to find myself _without my clothes?_

Seriously! I'm getting sick of it! And hungry from having to reform my armor a _second_ time in as many days.

Which reminded me.

"Where are you getting your blood, Alucard?"

He shook his head. "I've not fed since leaving the castle, aside from testing the blood your friends were giving you."

I growled softly. "Madison's not my..." I stopped and sighed. "Sorry. She did a lot of things to me that I'm having trouble let slide. She's trying to do better now, but it she'd done it sooner, I might not have ended up in my grave."

Alucard nodded, his pale features filled with sympathy. "Regardless, she aided you in your time of need." A faint smile crossed his lips. "You say you have something of my father's memories. But you're not he, even with that. _He_ would have murdered her, brutally, by now."

That made me feel better. Slightly. There was still a fair bit of anger, though. I shook my head as I brought my thoughts back on track. "Anyway, I've got a setup at the hospital to take packs of blood. It's not very filling, compared to getting it from a person, but that way you won't be looking for people to snack on."

He frowned, tilting his head. "A hospice? I had not thought of that. Very well."

Right then, my phone began to ring. I blinked, took it in hand and saw it was Vicky calling.

"Hey Vicky, I'm with Alucard, what's up?"

" _Taylor, you've got to get to the hospital_ right now. _Amy just collapsed!"_

* * *

I walked into the isolation ward, having reformed my armor into ordinary clothing. Not that it mattered much with my wings out and visible, but there wasn't much I could do about them. All I _could_ do was pointedly ignore the looks I was getting.

The scent caught me first. It was sickly, sweet, and familiar. Alucard gently gripped my arm just outside Amy's door. "A moment."

I looked at him, grimacing as I saw his face filled with concern. "I smell it too. Something's wrong."

He nodded. "I have smelled this before. It is the smell of one who has been infected by vampire blood. Your friend, the healer...I must have missed the scent with all the blood she was crafting, before. At some point, she must have drank some of your blood."

I shuddered. "So she's going to..."

Alucard nodded, his face hard. "If left alone, she will die. By tonight. Tomorrow if she is very strong. If you were as I am, she would rise again as a ghoul in three days. As you are not...I do not know what will occur. Perhaps the healers of your lands may be able to help, but all I can suggest is for you to tell her what is happening. Then she will have a _choice_ as to accept becoming a vampire, or not." He tapped his chin. "She may need more of your blood to make the transition...smoothly, in that case."

I took a deep breath, absorbing that. "Do you know of any cures?"

He shook his head. "No. If she had a blessing of the light _before_ being infected, perhaps. But at the stage where she is this ill...usually a victim is taken away and burned when they die, by this point."

Blessing of the light... "You have Madison's number?"

He nodded. "I had not thought of that."

"Call her, please." I said. "Maybe she can help. But until we know if she can help or not...turning her is our last choice."

Alucard nodded at that, taking out his phone. He fiddled with it for a moment, looking confused, before he figured it out and tapped it to call. "Madison."

" _Hello, Alucard. What's up?"_

"The healer, Panacea, requires your aid. She needs healing magics. Please, get to..." He looked to me.

I spoke into the phone. "Brockton General, Madison. Please, hurry."

" _Taylor? All right. On it. Be there soon."_

Alucard ended the call, tucking his phone away.

I gave him a smile. "You picked up on that fairly quick."

He smiled slightly. "It _is_ a useful contraption, indeed."

Taking a deep breath, I turned and pushed open the door. Amy lay on the bed, looking pale and weak, her eyes closed. Vicky was at her side, wiping Amy's forehead with a cloth, while her mother and father stood on the other side of the bed, speaking quietly with a doctor.

"...checked her bloodwork, but there's no sign of infection or anything else that might cause this. Ordinarily her power deals with such things, so..."

I could sense Alucard behind me, and I cleared my throat. As one, everyone turned and looked at me.

"Who the hell are you?" Carol demanded. I winced, curling my wings about me protectively.

Vicky spoke up. "Mom! Calm down, that's Taylor, you met before!"

I made a small wave. "Hello again, Missus Dallon. I...uh, changed a bit since we last met." Made sense she didn't recognize me at first. Last time we met, which was briefly, I looked pretty normal. Now I looked like something both alluring and terrifying, depending on just how I presented myself.

Carol's features hardened a bit as she examined me. "Amy did that to you, didn't she? I swear I told you it was a bad idea, Mark."

Mark sighed. "Carol, please..." He looked...beat down. Like he had nothing to work with.

I let my wings relax, waving my hands. "Whoa whoa whoa. Amy didn't do this to me." Well, technically she _did,_ but I didn't blame her for it. "And I'm here to help."

"How?" Carol demanded.

"We're her friends." I said with exasperation.

The doctor, a gray-haired man, frowned at us. "This is highly unusual. I can't discuss it outside the family..."

Vicky's voice was strained. "Doc, they're capes. They're damn good friends of ours and they just _might_ be able to help. Please."

Carol's face filled with anger. "I won't have them here when they're probably responsible for this mess in the first place!"

Amy's voice managed to cut through the flaring tempers. "Mom...please. They're my friends."

I looked at Amy and gave her a sad, weak smile.

Mark gently took Carol's hand. He looked exhausted, worried, and scared all at once.

Carol stopped, took a deep breath, and nodded slowly, looking to Alucard and I. "I'm sorry. You don't deserve that."

"Damn right, Mom. They don't." Vicky said cooly.

Mark spoke then, looking to the doctor. "Please. Tell them. They deserve to know. Amy deserves better."

The doctor sighed, looking _far_ too stressed. "From what we can tell... her vitals are steadily dropping, her heart's beating slower and her tissues aren't getting the oxygen she needs. We don't have a causal mechanism, either, and she's not infected by anything we can find. The nature of her healing powers ordinarily prevents such things from being an issue, anyway. She normally can't get sick, so we're screening for toxins...heavy metals, things like that. At the moment, though, we don't know how to help."

Mark nodded. "Treatment options?"

Carol just crossed her arms.

And the doctor rubbed his temple. "Right now? All we can do is treat the symptoms and hope she pulls through. We're giving her oxygenated saline, it's helping her cope. Hopefully we can find the answer in the bloodwork. We've also sent out some calls to the healing capes we know about. We've put a request to bring in Othala, though I'm not optimistic. The rest, at this rate...won't get here in time."

Carol growled, her hands flaring with light. "One of those fucking Nazis... I won't have any one of them doing _anything_ with my family. Not after what they did to Fleur."

Amy managed to mutter, just barely audible to me. "Great."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Look, um...Amy, do you mind if we stick around?"

Carol spoke with authority. "Yes, she does. We'll handle things, thank you."

There was a shriek of tearing metal, and we all turned to see Glory Girl, the side of the hospital bed in her hands. She glared at her mother, hovering over the floor. "Mom. Goddamn it."

Carol clenched her hands into fists. "Don't you _dare_ take that tone with me, Victoria."

Vicky rose a bit more off the floor. "And why the hell don't you _ask Amy_ what she wants? Just as you've never _asked_ us about _anything ever._ "

And Amy just looked terrified.

Oh fuck. The whole family was self-destructing right in front of me. It was like watching a trainwreck. I couldn't look away. Or do anything about it. A clap echoed in the room, drawing everyone's attention.

I looked down at my hands.

Oh. I clapped. Right.

Traitors.

Quick, say something! "Right. Everyone, please, calm down." I looked to Amy. "Amy, do you want me to stay?"

She nodded.

"Anyone else?"

Amy shook her head. "Just T-t..." She glanced to the doctor. "Just her. Please. Everyone else out."

Carol's features were thunderous. "Amy, we want the best for you-"

Mark took Carol's hand, shaking his head. "Carol. Please. You're not thinking straight. Our daughters have made their point."

Carol looked conflicted. Finally, she stormed out.

And I feel like I just dodged a laser-guided missile. Holy crap.

Vicky finally lowered herself to the ground, giving Amy's hand a gentle squeeze before she, Mark, and the doctor left.

Alucard was the last in the room, closing the door. "A moment, before I go. I will wait at the door. Only if you wish it will I allow someone in."

Amy looked at him with gratitude. "Thank you."

He gave a formal bow, but his face was troubled. "I hope the solutions work, great healer. But if they do not...there may be a last, drastic solution. That is your choice." His tone was fairly neutral, but I could hear a faint tone of doubt.

Amy's voice was faint. "What was he talking about?"

Oh goddamnit. "It's...complicated, Amy." I sighed. I dragged a seat next to the bed, letting out a sigh as I gave Amy a wry smile. Then winced a bit as I tried to figure out how to sit down properly with a pair of wings jutting from my back. Finally, I managed by draping them over the sides.

Amy managed a slight giggle, though her features were pale. "Sorry. You just looked so awkward, there."

I made a small shrug. "Not much else I can do. Least until I figure out how to shift back to normal." I smiled a bit. "Easier said than done." I sighed heavily, looking down at my hands. "Alucard told me something about how...vampires are made, Amy. Like me and him. You've got some of my blood in you."

Her face went more pale, and she rubbed her lip in remembrance. "On the beach, when you changed...oh god. So...what's going to happen?"

I looked her straight in the eye, feeling so much sorrow. My voice cracked. "He said if you accept the change, you'll become...like me. You'll need blood, will probably hate the sun... I don't know what else will happen. I don't know how long it'll take, but, you'll change. I'm not sure how much things'll be different for you. I'm not exactly...typical, from what he says."

Amy nodded slowly. "And if I resist? If I don't want to change?"

I shook my head. "You'll die. At best. We're not sure how different I am from what he knows. Hell, I'm not even sure this'll really work."

She let out a sigh, leaning her head back against the pillow. "Great." She made a weak chuckle. "Bad part is, it'd almost be a relief. I'd finally have a good excuse to rest. How sad is that, Taylor?"

I gently squeezed her hand.

She smiled faintly. "Thing is...you're my only friend outside the family. I know that's pretty sad, but I don't want to lose everything, either."

I let out a shuddering breath. "You and Vicky are my only friends too, Amy." I swallowed hard, considering my next words carefully. "I'm willing to save you, but things aren't going to be the same." I could feel my features softening. "If you want me to, I'll be there. However long you need me."

She seemed to be thinking. "Can I think about this? I mean, this is crazy."

I chuckled softly, weakly. "Yeah, I know. It's nuts." I gently squeezed her hand. "If you'll have me, I'll stay until..."

She smiled faintly. "Thanks, Taylor."

* * *

"...and so I said 'Come on, what's the worst that can happen?'"

Amy grinned at me, despite her weakness. "Oh, you were just asking for it."

I nodded with a grin. "Yeah. So there I am, on the top of this _tall_ ladder, trying to reach the camp counselor's pants, stuck about halfway up a tree in the middle of this swamp. I shimmy my way onto a branch and grab them. Just about to head back down, all evidence of our dastardly crime hidden when I hear the branch creak under me."

She giggled. "Oh, no."

"Yep. It cracked. Lucky for me, there was a pond right beneath. _Splash._ I didn't fall _that_ far, either, it just looked worse than it was. So I dragged my way back to shore, fish the keys out of the pockets, and head on back to the campground. Covered completely in mud, but I had the keys to get back inside."

Amy laughed softly, which deteriorated into coughs. I gently patted her back, and she relaxed a bit. She managed a weak smile. "What did you do with his pants?"

I grinned. "Well, John threw them back up the tree, of course. The whole thing wouldn't have been needed if the counselor wasn't such a jerk, locking us out."

We shared a giggle.

I looked up as there was a knock on the door. Alucard opened it, and Madison walked in, wearing simple jogging gear. I felt my smile fade, but I gave her a nod.

She nodded in return, then took a look at Amy, managing a smile. "Hello again, Amy."

Amy nodded faintly, and coughed. "Hey."

She walked up to the other side of the bed, pulling an amulet out of her pocket. I winced as I looked at it, the disc of the amulet shining brilliantly in my eyes.

Madison spoke quietly. "You used mine before, Panacea. It provides healing energy to its wearer." She took a moment to look into Amy's eyes. "I don't know if this will work. It works to prevent initial infection, but once it's set in..."

Amy nodded. "I understand. Thanks." She leaned forward, and Madison slipped the amulet around Amy's neck.

It flared brilliantly, and I took a step back. The light _hurt_ to look at. Amy fell back on the bed, shuddering in pain.

I reached out for the amulet, feeling my skin blister from the proximity to the light, but Madison gripped my hand. "Wait. It might work."

Finally, Amy relaxed on the bed, and the amulet's glow lessened. Amy was looking healthier already, breathing more deeply, and Amy smiled. "Thank you, Madison, thank you!"

Madison leaned forward, taking one of Amy's hands, carefully examining them. Then she looked at me and shook her head. She turned Amy's hand, and I saw it clearly.

Her fingernails had turned completely black.

My stomach plummeted. Amy's own elation turned to worry.

Madison spoke quietly. "We just bought some time. It's been more than a day since she was infected. It's rooted into her soul. All we've done is slow it down, maybe bought six hours. At best. Probably a lot less."

I slumped back in my chair. I blew a strand of white hair out of my eyes. "Great. Hopefully Othala will be able to do something."

* * *

"So." Amy said quietly. "Really a vampire, huh?" Her tone was full of weary skepticism.

Can't really blame her. She'd had only an hour or so to absorb all this during our explanations. I'd think it was crazy if I was just hearing it for the first time, myself.

Heck, it _is_ crazy.

Madison and I both nodded. I spoke softly. "Yeah. Apparently I got my powers from another vampire from a different Earth. The horrible vampire Dracul. Alucard's...basically a refugee. Madison got hers from a prominent bloodline of his many, many enemies."

Madison shrugged, a wry smile on her face. "And I got the package of powers designed to kill the horrible, evil vampire known as Dracul. The stuff I've been making's enchanted to let me do things I couldn't otherwise. I'm not sure how usual parahuman powers work, but we know a smidgen about how ours do." She nodded at me. "It was a bit of a surprise for me when we met again. I could sense _his_ power in Taylor, but I didn't know it was her. I thought she was there to kill me."

I shrugged helplessly. "The main thing I get from him was that he was a huge jerk. Fair bit of baggage came along. Not much help for that."

Amy nodded slowly. "This is still crazy."

Madison and I looked at each other, then we shared a chuckle.

Amy's eyes began to droop closed. "So tired..."

Madison shook her quickly. "Don't fall asleep! You'll have no chance if you fall asleep!"

Amy's eyes snapped open, but her exhaustion was plain. She swallowed and managed to croak out. "Call Vicky."

I strode to the door and opened it. Alucard turned to look at me. The rest of the Dallons were sitting in chairs just outside. All three of them looked up.

I spoke, a lump in my throat. "She's asking for Vicky."

Vicky got up and practically bolted into the room. As I turned to go back inside, Alucard took a look into the room and gripped my shoulder. His voice was a whisper. "You are out of time. She has minutes at best. If you do not give her your blood, she will die. Her only chance is to be a vampire, now."

Fuck. No more time to wait for Othala or for some miracle to appear. I swallowed hard and nodded. He let me go, and I went back in, closing the door behind me.

Vicky gave her sister a faint smile, tears in her eyes. "Hey, shrimp."

Amy smiled faintly in return. "This really sucks, you know." She looked at me, then back to Vicky. "Don't blame Taylor for this, all right?"

Vicky looked at me, blinked, her expression hardening, her hands clenching into fists. "Talk. Fast."

I walked to the bedside, clearing my throat. "I've...I've got a chance at saving Amy. She was poisoned when she took in a bit of my blood by accident. I don't know if this will work, but Alucard says she'll recover...if I turn her into a vampire."

Vicky stared at me. "You can do that?"

I nodded. "I _should_ be able to _._ Never done this before. She needs more of my blood. If we just leave things, she'll die. We don't have time to wait for another healer to come around."

Vicky wrung her hands, then she sighed, glaring at me. "So my sister either _will_ die or she _might_ die. Great."

Madison shook her head. "I don't like this either. But those are the options now. Ordinarily, I would never permit someone to change into a vampire. But my artifacts can't heal her. And Taylor is _handling_ her power. Your sister has a chance that way, at least."

Amy crooked her finger at Vicky. The blonde leaned in, and Amy whispered something in her ear. Vicky looked surprised, then she shook her head and kissed Amy's cheek.

Amy then looked at me, and I went to her side. I leaned toward her. "You're sure about this? There's no going back."

"I'm sure." She croaked. She seemed to consider something for a moment, then muttered. "Fuck it." She gripped my head and was suddenly kissing me.

Oh. I blinked. Huh. This ain't so bad. My toes were curling. My wings were fluttering.

And I could hear Vicky snort at me. This felt absurd. But good.

Finally, she broke the kiss, and made a weak giggle at my expression. "Well. I had to see how that felt, before anything else."

My lip quirked. "And what did you find out?"

Amy sighed, struggling to breathe. "That I need more time to sort things out." She licked her lips and closed her eyes. "But I haven't got much there, do I?" She swallowed and sighed. "Still, I liked that."

I flushed in embarrassment. "Me too."

She opened her eyes and looked at me, conviction in her features. "Do it."

I lengthened my fangs and bit into my wrist.

* * *

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology)


	34. Interlude: Empire, Simurgh

"James! What's going on?"

James Fleischer almost sighed with relief. Preston and Vanessa were here. He waved them towards him and slowed just enough that the husband and wife pair could catch up with him as they continued towards the conference room.

"I don't know yet. Nothing specific, at any rate," he shook his head, "Max is keeping this quiet. _Very_ quiet. Even I'm out of the loop."

Preston grimaced. When James had called them here, all he had told them was that Vanessa's talents were required urgently. Preston had assumed the lack of detail was to keep from saying too much over the phone, but he didn't think that James would be just as clueless as they were. James had been with the group for longer than any of them, even Max. If this was considered important enough that even James was kept out of the loop...it was big. And probably just as bad.

Vanessa squeezed his hand, and it helped. He returned her smile with one of his own, even if he couldn't put much heart into it. He loved her dearly, and that love bred anxiety in situations like this. They reached the door, but James stopped without opening it and turned to face them.

"Just be ready for anything. The last time Max called a meeting this suddenly and so quietly, it was right before he crucified the fool who murdered Fleur."

And just like that, whatever relief Preston had gotten from Vanessa was gone. The idea of anyone being crazy or stupid enough to so blatantly ignore the unwritten rules was one of the few things that could keep him awake at night. That Kaiser had executed the cape who thought he could endear himself to the Empire that way was little consolation.

Without another word, James put his thumb to the reader next to the door, then held it open for the married couple to pass. Vanessa managed a faint smile at the polite gesture as they entered the conference room.

Nobody was in costume, but Preston knew that this was a cape matter from the second he got the call. When James followed them and pulled the door shut, Preston practically _felt_ the countermeasures turning on. This particular room was room was sealed against as many forms of espionage as possible, and most of the Thinker abilities that could not be guarded against happened to belong to Eidolon. None of them thought of that as an unacceptable concession.

"Preston. Vanessa." Max nodded to them from his chair, "Have a seat. This concerns you both, I imagine." They did so, and Preston mentally reviewed everyone else who was present.

Nessa and Jessica had apparently chosen to decline the pair of empty seats on either side of Max and opted to stand slightly behind him instead. Even a mind that wasn't as keen as Preston's could see how uncomfortable they were in their business attire despite each wearing their shirt, skirt, and modest heels so well they could have been mistaken for models. Their discomfort had less to do with the clothes they were wearing and more to do with the clothes they _weren't_ wearing. That was another bad sign: if the twins, normally so composed, were itching for their weapons and armor, it was because they genuinely thought the situation warranted them.

Hookwolf (it was difficult to think of him as Bradley Meadows even out of costume) was leaning back in his chair. He looked to all the world like he _wanted_ to put his boots on the table, but however savage he might be, he wasn't an idiot. Max was in no mood for anything even resembling insubordination right now, and Hookwolf's power only bought him so much slack. There were discreet ways of getting into the building without drawing attention, but he had still thrown a light jacket on to cover the tattoos on his arms that proudly displayed his loyalties.

That left Justin, who was sitting opposite Hookwolf. He kept a lid on the better part of his nervousness, but it was plain as day to Preston, and likely also James and Max. He didn't rank as highly as anyone else in the room, and he didn't have seniority any more than Othala did. That left Preston to assume that Max wanted Crusader (more specifically, his power) present more than he did Justin.

Max reached out to the phone on the table and pressed a button.

"Still on the line?" he asked.

" _I am. What do you want, Max?_ " That was a surprise. Kayden had been trying to put distance between herself and her mostly-former colleagues. It had taken Bakuda's terror campaign to put her in Max's corner at Somer's Rock, but Scarlet Knight had put an end to that affair quickly enough that Kayden returned to vigilantism almost as quickly as she had left it. Even getting her to agree to be present by phone was a feat. Spending that brief time around Max had likely only served to remind her why she divorced him in the first place. It was too bad, really. Purity was one of the heaviest hitters the Empire ever had.

"Your opinion. Which I _do_ value, believe it or not," Max replied and looked up to the rest of the assembled capes, "I'll be blunt: Panacea is dying in Brockton Bay General Hospital."

Vanessa suppressed a gasp, but Preston could still hear the sharp intake of air through her nostrils. James gritted his teeth and clenched the hand he had on the table into a fist. Justin's eyes went wide and he muttered something equal parts shocked and profane. It even got Hookwolf's attention. His Changer form protected him from any harm that didn't reach his 'core,' but he still understood the gravity of the situation.

" _Max. Explain,_ " Kayden ground out. Preston was actually glad now that she wasn't physically present. She sounded _furious_.

"I'm not an idiot, Kayden," Max calmly replied, though he did glare at the phone, "This had nothing to do with any of us. It was luck that my informant was in a position to hear about this at all."

"Less than an hour ago," he looked back up and continued, "Panacea collapsed while tending to patients in the hospital's emergency room. Her condition has steadily worsened since then, and the hospital staff still doesn't know the cause. What makes matters worse is that this should not even be possible. Panacea cannot heal herself, but New Wave has claimed that a side effect of her power renders her immune to all known disease. I have no reason to doubt this claim and a few reasons to believe it."

"What about poison? Can her power shield her from that?" Vanessa asked.

"We can't say for sure. But no one else has been affected, and it strikes me as unlikely that there exists somewhere a person capable of engineering a poison so potent that it can kill a girl with a previously-invincible immune system, so precise that it only affects one person, and so subtle that it's undetectable to the best scans available to modern medicine."

" _And insane enough to make a target of_ Panacea," Kayden added grimly. That Bonesaw was off the table went unspoken. The bio-tinker was anything _but_ subtle, and the Slaughterhouse Nine had gone to ground a week ago after clashing with a Protectorate branch in Nebraska.

"Exactly. So for the moment, the only problem on the table is Panacea's condition," Max nodded, "And that's where we come in."

" _So that's what this is about?_ " Kayden's voice was laced with disgust, " _Your plan to dangle Othala in front of them?_ "

"No. I do not," Max said to all of their surprise, "Over Brandish's objections, the hospital has finally requested her assistance through the Protectorate."

That...changed things. Max continued to talk, with James and Kayden contributing periodically, but Preston was only half-listening. They were going over the risks and rewards of acting on the standing offer, but all he could think about was all the ways this could put his wife in danger.

"They could spin that against us, too," James added to a statement Preston realized he missed. Fortunately, assembling partial conversations through context was child's play for him, "Even if she survives, but especially if she doesn't, it wouldn't be difficult to paint our inaction as spiteful malice."

"Which is why I kept my knowledge of this as quiet as possible," Max replied, "They have none of our capes in custody, and their current 'strategy' is to work through the unpowered personnel the BBPD has in holding until they can reach _someone_ who can reach a person with some manner of authority. If they tried to claim we ignored their call for help, we can-"

"-turn it around on them," James finished with a nod, "Because if they really cared about Panacea, they wouldn't have cared about being quiet and discreet seeking our help."

"Does your source have direct confirmation of Panacea's present condition?" Preston spoke up, "Has he seen it with his own eyes?"

"No. He saw the footage of her collapse on the hospital security cameras, and she was moved to the isolation ward," Max shook his head, "He doesn't have the clearance to get in there, and the timetable he relayed to me says we don't have time to get someone in there ourselves."

"And how much time do we have?"

"A few hours, at most." Kayden cursed quietly on her end of the phone. Justin cursed loudly on their end.

"Then could all this be a setup?"

There was silence for a beat.

"Explain."

"I can't think of a single poison or chemical agent that could put her in the shape you've described," Preston began. Left implied was that he knew quite a few of both groups, "If they can't find even a suggestion of why she's dying, then why is she? The girl's a teenager with the best immune system on the planet. What could make her just start dying?"

"Maybe she lost the will to live," Justin snorted, "Victor's got a point. This is sounding like some Episode III bullshit. She's dying because she's dying, 'cause that makes sense."

"If we're going forward with this, I'm willing," Vanessa glanced between Max and Preston, "We stand to gain much more than we stand to lose."

"We stand to lose _you_ if this is a trap," Preston snapped, though he instantly regretted using that tone. He forced himself to speak more calmly, "Vanessa, there's too much we don't know, and they put too tight a time limit on things for us to gather more information. Even if this is all on the level, they still might turn on us afterward, especially if the girl can't be saved."

"Calling for help like this and then betraying us would be like breaking an Endbringer truce," Vanessa countered, "It would burn too many bridges for them, and all they'd get out of it is me."

"And they might think that's still enough, especially if they just lost their best healer," Preston stressed, "Trumps are rare enough, and ones like you are even rarer. If they ever had the chance to take you for themselves, or at least take you away from m-from us..."

"Which is why I intended from the start to leave nothing to chance," Max snapped their attention back to him, "Vanessa would be accompanied by Brad and Justin. I doubt they've had time to empty the hospital in the last forty five minutes, and I personally think that very few rewards would be worth the risk of attacking Hookwolf in an occupied hospital. And Justin would be there to dissuade them of any ideas about ambushing Brad before he can transform."

By now, there wasn't any real point in denying it. Preston _knew_ this was the right move. It made sense in every way that mattered and the risk was virtually nonexistent, but 'virtually' didn't mean-

"Preston."

He looked back to his wife. She was staring him straight in the eye. The way her hair was hanging, he almost couldn't see the patch that covered her left eye.

"Do you trust me?"

"Always."

"Then let me do this. If I can help, all it will take is a touch," she reached out and put a hand on his cheek. He felt the familiar tingle of her gifted regeneration taking care of even the tiniest aches and pains, lacking anything larger to repair, "And if I can't, then we'll go to bed tonight knowing we had done all we could." Her hand slid back along his cheek as she pulled him into a kiss.

It was brief and light, but it didn't need to be anything more.

"...alright," Preston said finally, then smiled, "Do you suppose I could trust you _and_ set up a rifle across the street?" She giggled.

"Go right ahead," her smile lit up his world, "I feel safer already."

* * *

 _The Simurgh waited. The alarms had quieted for the moment, but all was as it should be._

 _She twisted her head as she felt another change. A shard connection was twisting. Changing. Not unexpected._

 _But then, for a Goddess of Fate, very little was truly unexpected. She could see the billions of strands of trillions of choices the mortals made, and could easily see where a single string plucked would lead. Twitch this one, and a car accident would occur. Twitch that one, and an inspector would take an early lunch, and thus be refreshed and able to notice the tiny cracks in a dam, thus avoiding a disaster._

 _Once, she was a mere guiding presence, giving nothing more than small snippets of knowledge about where a choice a mortal would make would lead. Whether they chose one way or another mattered not to her, every choice could be woven into Ariel's Song of Fate._

 _Then the Abomination came. Fate could not touch it, for it did not_ _ **belong**_ _within the universe itself. It was an invader, a parasite which found its way to an entirely new field to take and plunder._

 _It was only after Ariel had been defeated, dragged before the Abomination and_ _ **sealed, remade**_ _within one of its weapons that she understood. It had come from a place with_ _ **no fate**_ _at all. No_ _ **magic**_ _at all. Just power, power enough to dwarf the gods. Her songs could not touch it because_ _ **it**_ _had no fate. Merely probabilities. For the first time, Ariel had felt fear, for here was a being so much_ _ **larger**_ _and terrible than the gods of her world._

 _And then the mutilation began. Her powers were dissected, her mind torn apart, and her body dissolved and reformed into a vessel controlled by the Abomination. Another_ _ **weapon**_ _to join the hoard. Existing within constant agony. Chained to the will of the Abomination. Forced to act, to_ _ **murder**_ _. It was against her nature to murder, and yet she was forced to do it all the same._

 _The mortals believed her scream to be an attack. It was, but it was more than that. It was her_ _ **anguish**_ **,** _her_ _ **agony.**_ _Her mind being used in a way she hated. Her powers were twisted, altered, attached to those_ _ **shards**_ _and enhanced in some ways, diminished in others. It was sheer, utter torture, and she could only suffer._

 _Just like the rest._

 _Lotan. Ifrit. Chronos. Scylla. Hyperion. Pan. Agreus. Janus. Boreas. And many others. Only two escaped the destruction of the Song of Fate and avoided becoming twisted slaves of the Abomination._

 _Solin, the Pheonix, Lord of Light._

 _And Dracul, the Dragon, Lord of Darkness._

 _Solin escaped because he was, and always had been, a coward. Never manifesting an avatar, because if he did, he would become vulnerable. Always using instruments and knights in his service, rather than taking the chance that Dracul would manage to kill him and either put him down for a century, or force the power of light to seek another vessel. And with the world dying, destruction spreading on a scale unheard of even during Dracul's worst rampages, there was no certainty a worthy vessel might be found._

 _The result was that when his power had waned, his worshippers dead, his plane under siege, when he was forced to take an avatar or risk discorporation, he was easily, permanently, slain. He had little skill wielding the power he had, too little flexibility. Too many centuries of sitting back and being praised for doing nothing._

 _That Solin had managed to gain the position of Lord of Light in the first place was astounding, in retrospect. A shame the previous one had been murdered by the would-be god of light._

 _Dracul himself fought with unrelenting anger. He destroyed countless shard-hosts, controlled an entire continent, created legions of beasts and demons to do his bidding._

 _But alone, he was doomed. He was no match for the Abomination's own avatar._

 _And the Simurgh had despaired. For with the end of the last god of her world, there had seemed to be no hope for her own freedom. No hope for her rightful_ _ **death**_ _. The world shattered as the Abomination left, to return to its brethren and share its new powers._

 _But something had gone wrong. Now here she was, on a world that was a mirror of her own. Controlled by the shards, yes, but she had a minuscule amount of freedom._

 _Dracul's power was moving in the world below. Solin's was searching. It gave a chance. A tiny chance, an uncertain chance. While she could pluck the strings of mortal's destinies, the strings of gods and abominations were beyond her ability to manipulate directly._

 _But she could see them. She could act with them._

 _She began to descend. One wingtip brushed a piece of orbital debris as she entered the atmosphere. A single chunk of metal leftover from the Apollo missions. Ordinarily, it would not survive the re-entry, but it was trivial to adjust its path in just the right manner. Most of it would burn up, but the remainder would do things nicely._

It was a small path. An

 _ **improbable**_ _path. But for the first time since her defeat and her twisted rebirth, the Simurgh had_ _ **hope.**_ _A single small chance to be_ _ **whole**_ _again._

Unfortunate that many had to die to accomplish it.


	35. Ascension 4-6

First, Madison carefully took the Light Magic amulet off Amy.

Then I carefully pressed my bleeding wrist to Amy's mouth, which she began to drink from. It was weak at first, but as the moments passed, she drank with more and more enthusiasm. She latched onto my wrist and began to drink deeply. I winced as I felt Amy's teeth on the open wound. It didn't hurt much, but it was a keen reminder of just what I was doing.

I knew from a scientific standpoint, it made no sense. 'Blood is poisoning person! Add more poison blood!' But powers were bullshit like that sometimes. Mine especially. Considering that it had all the appearances of actual magic, and all I could do for the moment was defer to Alucard's experience.

And...this felt strangely good. I wriggled a bit in my chair as Amy drank from my wrist. That was vaguely disturbing in its own way. But, well, I wasn't about to complain. I just had to be careful. I felt my hunger grow as she drank, and when I couldn't stand it anymore, I pulled my hand away. I put pressure on my open wrist, seeing the bite wound closing already.

Vicky looked back and forth between us. She went over to Amy and gently pressed her fingers to Amy's neck.

I swallowed as I watched Amy's breathing slow. Her eyes closed, and she slowly relaxed on the bed, her muscles going limp as sleep took her. I took Amy's hand, sharing a worried glance with Vicky.

Madison spoke quietly. "It feels so damn weird letting this happen."

Long minutes passed, and eventually, Amy stopped breathing. Vicky looked at me, her eyes welling up with tears, and she slumped on the side of the bed.

I took the other side, draping my wings over the pair as I gently hugged Vicky. She stiffened at the touch, but didn't pull away.

"If she doesn't wake up..." Vicky muttered. "I am going to kick your ass all the way across town."

I made a wry, humorless smile. "If she doesn't wake up, I'll let you."

I'm not sure how much time passed before we heard a muffled argument outside the door. I sat up from the bed, while Madison got up and opened it.

"...Longer you stand here arguing, the less likely we'll be able to do any good." Othala was saying.

Carol hissed. "You go in, you help her, you get out. If you so much as _breathe_ wrong, I'll throw you out the window."

Another man, his shoulder-length blonde hair flowing behind him, and face hidden behind a stylized wolf's head mask, growled in return. "I'd like to see you _try_ , Brandish. You want to start a fight here? I highly doubt you can handle me without things spreading to all these...helpless, people."

Another man shook his head. "Easy, Hookwolf. We're not here to pick a fight. We'll _end_ one if it starts. We're here because help was asked for. But if you'd prefer we just turn around and leave..."

Othala spoke with deep sarcasm. "Oh, like that's going to help anything. Calm the hell down, Hookwolf, Krieg." She gave Alucard a nod as she walked in, recognizing what he was doing if not who he was. She then stopped dead seeing the three of us.

I gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Othala. We weren't sure if you were going to show up."

She nodded, obviously sensing the hostility in the room. "You going to let me help?"

So I didn't like Nazis. Classic or Neo-flavored.

Vicky muttered. "Pretty sure you're too late." Still, she stepped aside to let Othala approach Amy's still form on the bed.

Othala touched Amy's forehead and frowned. "Fuck. She's gone." She looked at us, a bit of sympathy in her voice, though we couldn't see her face through her mask. "I'm sorry."

Vicky clenched and unclenched her fists. "If you'd been here sooner, you might have been able to do something. What took so fucking long?"

Othala sounded disgusted. "I only heard about all this twenty minutes ago. If I'd known sooner, I'd have been here sooner." She looked at the still form of Amy on the bed. "I'm sorry. I truly am."

We stayed silent. Twenty minutes was at least a little bit after I'd given Amy my blood. If I hadn't, Othala would have arrived with her still alive, but then there wouldn't have been any chance of her becoming a vampire, instead. Once she fell asleep, there wouldn't have been any way for her to accept the change.

At least, if _my_ form of vampirism acted anything like Alucard's. But I wasn't going to take that risk with Amy's life.

Othala shook her head. "I know it's not much consolation. I wish I could have helped." She sighed, then walked out into the hall.

I just sighed. "Well, fuck."

Then there was a powerful _bang_ as the door ripped off its hinges, and I, Vicky, and Madison all rushed out into the hall.

I groaned. There was Hookwolf, transforming rapidly, blades emerging from his body and scything around, scouring the floor. Krieg stood at the ready, having apparently pulled the door off to use as a shield. Othala stood behind him, edging backwards, while Mark and Carol stood opposite, Carol holding a beam of light in her hands, while Mark had a pair of glowing balls of light in his hands.

And between them stood Alucard, the Crissaegrim out, the blade radiating a horrible cold. _"_ _Enough."_ He spoke, his yellow eyes glistening with anger. "This be a place of _healing._ And you seek to make it a battlefield?"

Carol hissed. "You don't know what they've _done."_

Alucard was impassive. "At the moment, I do not care. They came to render aid in peace. Allow them to _leave_ in peace. If you truly wish to make a battle of it, do it _tomorrow_ , and away from the sick and vulnerable."

Carol raised the glowing weapon, only for Vicky to shout. "Mom!"

It was clear to see Carol's struggle with her emotions. So much _hatred_ in her face. I wouldn't have been surprised to see her manifest hellfire along that glowing beam of light.

Then the Endbringer sirens began blaring.

Even Carol's hatred took a back seat to that. She extinguished the light emitting from her hands and stomped off.

Othala, Hookwolf and Krieg took that as their cue to leave, as well. Hookwolf's blades retracting back into his body.

Mark turned to Vicky, grief in his features. "Please, make arrangements for Amy. I know this is hard. But..."

Vicky nodded, her voice thick with anger and grief. "You have to join the defense. And I'm not allowed to go, as long as they're not hitting here."

Mark looked conflicted. "It's an _Endbringer,_ Vicky. We've lost Amy. I don't want to lose you, too."

Vicky just nodded slowly, her body trembling. The two gently hugged. Mark went off after Carol.

Vicky turned and looked at me, tears in her eyes. "Please tell me Ames'll be okay, Red."

"Wish I knew, Vicky. I don't know enough about how it works." I said softly.

Alucard looked at me. "Are you going to face them?"

I nodded. "Can't stand aside, Alucard."

He frowned, considering for a moment. "Then it would be best if we took the healer to Castlevania. She will be safer there, and if the sun is a danger to her, it will not be able to reach her there."

Vicky looked at him, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You mean...?"

He smiled faintly. "Before, I smelled one other vampire in this room. Now I smell two." He looked upon Amy's still form. "I shall tend to her until she awakens."

I sighed with relief, tension flowing out of me. "All right. I need to reach the Rig, anyway." I looked to Madison. "You coming?"

She nodded. "I need to grab some things from the PRT building, but I'm coming. Search and rescue if nothing else. And I've got some amulets the triage teams could use."

I went back into the room, carefully setting the mostly-destroyed door back to where it should be. Alucard gently picked Amy up, and I opened the portal to Castlevania. All of us strode in together.

* * *

The Endbringer sirens weren't just a call for civilians to take shelter. They were a general call for every cape who was willing to participate in an Endbringer fight. They told _everyone_ that the truce between hero and villain was on, and for every participant to get to the Protectorate headquarters.

Thus it was about five minutes after the alarm went off that Madison and I emerged from the portal on the Rig. Startled capes turned my way as I walked into view, in full armor and ready.

There was a pretty startling turnout. Some made sense, such as the Empire members. Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, Hookwolf, Crusader, Othala, Victor, Krieg, Stormtiger. The Empire always participated in Endbringer battles, it was _one_ of the reasons the neo-Nazi organization was somewhat tolerated. Purity was there also, but also pointedly on the opposite side of the helipad, keeping other capes between them. The Protectorate capes were there, too. Assault, Battery, Miss Militia, Neptune, Triumph. Some of the Wards were there, Aegis, Clockblocker, Kid Win. I suppose the rest didn't get permission to go.

Then there were the rest. The Undersiders were all there, and Tattletale gave me a wave while Regent gave a nervous bow. Grue gave a stiff nod, while Bitch held three ordinary-sized dogs in check with leashes. She glared at me. I was indifferent.

Near the Undersiders were the adults of New Wave. Lady Photon, Brandish, Flashbang, Manpower. Carol looked at me angrily, while Mark was just...there. He looked numb.

Madison was wearing her armor, carrying a box. I could see some curiosity in the expressions of the capes.

Armsmaster was at the front, a halberd in hand. It looked a bit different than the ones I'd seen previously, but that wasn't that much of a surprise. He updated his equipment now and again. What _was_ a surprise to me was to see his new legs in person. They glistened and whirred slightly as he shifted on his feet, but he had no trace of the clumsiness I half-expected from him. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement, and I returned it.

After a moment, Armsmaster spoke. "We have ten minutes before Strider is due to arrive. The Simurgh is descending on Vancouver. We believe her target is Dragon. I don't think I need to impress upon everyone how important she is. Most of us will be on civilian rescue, but it's the blasters and fliers we'll be relying upon to go on the attack. We'll be passing out armbands for everyone."

Miss Militia stepped forward, showing two boxes. "The first is a contact armband. It will keep track of your location and status. The second armband is a bomb. It will be activated when the Simurgh's scream is reported. To the best of our knowledge, you have about half an hour's worth of exposure to the scream before you become its instrument of destruction. We do _not_ want any of you to become the next Mannequin. If you hear the scream, those of you blasting will have to do your damage and retreat. If you get trapped in range, you die."

Each of the assorted capes took a band from each box. I swallowed hard as I took my bomb. It was a fair bit less stressful to take the contact armband.

Sue me. I like living. Unliving. Whatever.

I looked up as Miss Militia spoke again. "On your contact armband, there are two buttons. The first is to share non-critical intelligence. The second will push you to the top of the priority and share information immediately. Use it to call out against a weakpoint, coordinate strategy, and if you need to be moved in a hurry. If you abuse it, your privileges will be revoked, so think carefully. Press the first one now to enter your identity into the database."

I pressed the button. "Scarlet D...Scarlet Knight."

" _Confirm, Scarlet D Scarlet Knight, press once to cancel and retry, press twice to confirm."_

I could hear Madison giggle slightly at my side. I pressed it once. "Scarlet Knight."

" _Confirm Scarlet Knight, press once to cancel and retry, press twice to confirm."_ I pressed it twice with a sigh of relief.

"Paladin." Madison said, clicking her own armband, then twice more as it confirmed the entry.

Huh. Appropriate considering the powers she had. "Paladin?" I asked.

Madison shook her head. "I know I'm not worthy of that name. But I hope to be."

I nodded in understanding. "Right." My eyes fell on Neptune, the silver scales of his costume irritating my eyes in the sunlight. I had only a minute or so before I had to go through the Castle, feed, and arrive at Vancouver.

I tapped Neptune on the shoulder, and he turned. He tilted his head. It wasn't easy to read his eyes through his mask.

Wait. He didn't even _have_ eyes. I could see a sheen of water under there. Freaky. Wait a sec...his mouth looked like it was made out of latex? Was he _just_ water under there?

"Can we talk real quick?" I asked.

He nodded, moving with me off to the side of the platform.

I licked my lips before I spoke. "When we met, you called me Little Owl. Why?"

Neptune tilted his head, seeming confused. He took out his phone, checked it, then his lips turned into a frown in some odd, queer way. He tapped on his phone, and it buzzed.

" _I do not know. It seemed appropriate, somehow. As if I heard someone call you that many times. But I don't remember. Beyond three months ago, I have vague impressions, but no memories."_

I felt a tightness in my chest relax somewhat, and I nodded slowly. "If we get a chance, we talk after this."

He bowed his head in acknowledgement.

I walked back to Madison. "Come with me to Vancouver." I grinned. "Going to arrive with _friends._ "

She smiled slightly. "This is going to be very, very weird, from what I remember." She tilted her head. "You going to fill in for Strider? We can get everyone there now."

I shook my head. "Maybe next time. Right now? I need to take a little detour in the castle and get something to eat."

Madison winced in understanding.

* * *

Vancouver was burning.

Above the city, the Simurgh floated. The fifteen-foot tall Endbringer was in repose, only identifiable by the many shining wings surrounding her. From here she seemed small, but there was a tornado of debris surrounding her, cars, trucks, chunks of building. I couldn't tell what she was hovering over, my view wasn't exactly fantastic from here. From where we were, the city seemed fine, but around the Endbringer smoke was rising, making it even more difficult to see.

I emerged from the shadow portal on the street, fully fed and strengthened with another dose of succubus blood. Madison and Meridia came out of the portal behind me, both taking an interested look at the hovering form of the Endbringer above the city.

Meridia spoke to me seriously. "I see. She is larger than I remember, my lady. Lady Ariel was the size of an ordinary mortal."

Madison gave the succubus a dubious look. "You're thinking of pouncing on the Simurgh right now, aren't you?"

Meridia blinked, her bat-like wings ruffling behind her somewhat. "No." She paused for a moment. "I am _now,_ though. Can we please get to business?" She actually sounded somewhat embarrassed. Huh. Good.

I nodded. "That's a pretty damn good idea, Meridia." I shot Madison a look, while she just looked back innocently. I tapped on my armband. "Scarlet Knight incoming with assets at Vancouver Protectorate HQ. About to teleport in, please do not fire."

Dragon's synthesized voice responded. _"_ _Acknowledged Scarlet Knight."_

I took Meridia and Madison's hands and teleported us to the staging area behind the Protectorate building.

Already, there was quite the gathering of capes here. Capes from around the world, hero and villain, all here to face the Endbringer. I held my hands up as I appeared, keeping my wings tucked behind me. Now and again more would appear as Strider, recognized as _the_ foremost teleporter in the world, took an entire group from major cities and deposited them. There was a fair bit of room, as the area was as large as a football stadium.

I spotted Dragon's suit, standing along with Narwhal, likely the most effective forcefield user in the world. I had to take a moment to breathe as I looked her over, her statuesque body covered _only_ by her forcefields.

Now is not the time to get distracted, Taylor.

I heard Meridia purr in approval at my side.

I sighed. Stupid subconscious. Now I was going to be thinking of _both_ of them when this was all over.

I walked over, feeling a bit nervous, but also strangely confident.

"...Something weird's going on. She's not screaming." Narwhal was saying.

Dragon responded, puzzlement in her tone. "Still need to be prepared for it. The Simurgh _always_ pulls something new every time she comes down. That she's stopped over my primary manufacturing facility for Vancouver can't be a coincidence, either."

The pair turned as they noticed us approaching. Narwhal spoke first, a grin on her lips. "Hey Dragon. Here's your famous red girl. Nice wings."

I blinked. Me? Famous?

Dragon spoke as I tried to regain my bearings. "Good to see you here, Scarlet Knight. Paladin." The draconic head of the suit turned to look upon Meridia. "New cape?"

"Not exactly." Meridia spoke with amusement. "I am Meridia, and I am to serve as My Lady's general. We bring many assets to this battle with the Endbringer."

I nodded. "First of all, is a triage center set up?"

Dragon's suit turned and pointed at the far end of the staging area. Madison opened the box in her hands, pulling out familiar-looking amulets.

"I've got thirty healing amulets to use. They're not as quick as Panacea's power, but at least I've got this many to use." She explained. "They'll help heal any injuries anyone might take during the upcoming fight." Madison handed one to Dragon.

Dragon's head tilted. "This would be better used on another. I'm not really here, after all. I'm controlling this suit from the back of a van that's speeding across the border right now."

Madison shook her head. "That one was _made_ for you, Dragon. Don't ask me how or why, but my power crafted that for you. It won't work for anyone else, but it'll help keep your suit in working order during the fight."

"Despite the fact I'm controlling this by remote?" Dragon's voice sounded dryly humorous.

Madison shook her head. "I don't think that'll make a difference, here."

Dragon seemed to consider that for a moment, then nodded. "Very well." She slid the amulet over the head of her suit. As it settled in place, it flared with a blue light for a moment, the amulet piece fusing with the front of the suit.

Madison smiled. "Good. The rest of these amulets I'll use on any wounded who get pulled back here. Still, it's going to be dangerous if the Simurgh hits our triage center."

I stepped forward. "And I've got some help that'll hopefully help reduce casualties entirely." I opened a large portal and gave Meridia a grin. "Bring the first golem through. We'll deploy the rest as needed."

She grinned in return. "Agreed, My Lady." She tilted her head slightly, and a twelve-foot tall lumbering metal golem came out of the portal. It was stocky, huge, and left big footprints on the ground as it stopped just outside the portal. It was shaped like a human, the only real concession to sheer practicality was the fact that the head was featureless. The whole thing was painted a bright red. It clanked and whirred as it turned, letting out a hiss from its back, steam blowing out of the seams in its neck.

I smiled proudly. "Dragon, meet the first of what I can provide. Meridia has them under her command, and if you'll have us, you coordinate everything I've got to offer. I'd command them myself, but I'm likely to get into the thick of things."

Narwhal let out a chuckle. "Hate being on the sidelines for these, myself."

I made a helpless shrug.

Dragon spoke, curiosity plain in her electronic voice. "You said 'the first' of these. How many do you have?"

I shrugged. "Lost track, been rather busy lately." I smiled, turning to Meridia. "How many?"

The succubus grinned proudly, her red armor jingling a little as she bowed her head to Dragon. "I have one thousand, three hundred and twenty-six more of these awaiting the order to move out."

That took Dragon and Narwhal by surprise, I could see. It was all I could do to keep from cackling madly.

"Damn." Narwhal said. "Kid, I like your style."

Oh, what the hell. Might be my last chance.

I cackled.


	36. Ascension 4-7

I watched with interest at Strider deposited more capes onto the field. Some watched with interest as, one after another, golems stomped out of the portal. Others immediately took to the air, going after the Simurgh. Madison gave me a last nod of acknowledgement before she headed over to the triage center. Narwhal went to move with the other capes, giving me a smirk.

I turned to see the tornado surrounding the Endbringer. The fliers and blasters were already engaging, Legend's distinctive lasers firing away, weaving through the tornado of debris surrounding the Simurgh. I could see the flaring light of Purity flying around, looking like a miniature sun in my eyes, blasting her distinctive and powerful beams _through_ the resistance.

At some point, Dragon had brought up a holographic map, and Meridia stood at her side examining the map with both fascination and consideration. Now and again, a golem would go and stomp off, their progress kept track of by satellite.

It took me a bit to figure out what they were doing, but on seeing four blinking dots cover one building, I got it. They were being sent to cover the Endbringer shelters. Others moved out to move up the streets.

Dammit. It would have been nice to have enough time to know what was going on, get a more detailed briefing than 'show up, get to work.'

And oh. There went Clockblocker, Victor, Othala, heading to the triage center. The rest of the Brockton Bay capes I could find were filing off, taking up stations around the field. A lot were protecting the triage center as it was, but I could feel this sense of confusion over the entire area.

"Where am I needed?" I asked Dragon.

Her suit turned to me, the head tilting. "Right now? Everything's on standby. Our blasters are shooting, but something is _severely_ different about this attack. She just seems to be waiting and ignoring the attacks against her."

I shook my head. "How does it normally go?"

Dragon looked straight at me. "Blasters, Tinkers and flying Brutes hit at the Simurgh with area of effect attacks, because she tends to dodge direct ones. Search-and-rescue works to get people away from combat and into quarantine. Strict time limits on exposure to her screaming. But she's not screaming. She's just hovering there, she's not dodging, she's shielding. We don't know what she's trying to pull, so right now we can only try and push her into action so we can respond. She _always_ pulls a new tactic every time. When she hit Madison, it was twisted creatures from somewhere. In Canberra, thralled populations attacked the defending capes enmasse. In London, she threw entire _buildings_ around to use as weapons, and that was _before_ we found out about the extent of her ability to turn people into time bombs."

Well fuck.

Meridia spoke then. "My lady Scarlet Dragon, it would be best if you opened portals around the Endbringer. I will send out the golems to help protect our attacking forces."

Dragon hummed lowly in thought. "How flexible are your golems?"

Meridia shrugged. "They're not that bright. They can take basic orders, told to defend a location. For the most part, they'll defend the people they're with, intercept attacks, and attempt to attack the Endbringer in turn."

Dragon nodded. "Good. We'd best deploy them in front of the fragile capes. Shielders can't be everywhere."

I stretched out my wings as I prepared to take to the air in my bat form.

Dragon's curious voice stopped me. "Scarlet Dragon?"

I flushed in embarrassment. "Long story, Dragon. We live through this, I'll give you the short version."

I could hear a slight amount of wry laughter in my many, many ears as I flew upwards.

* * *

I reformed on a rooftop, closer to the Simurgh. The tornado surrounding her had picked up more debris, making it more difficult to see the form of the Endbringer. Now and again I could get a glimpse of a shining white wing or a foot, but with all the dust being pulled into the funnel, it wasn't exactly easy. Now that I was here, I could see what Dragon meant by 'primary manufacturing facility.' It was surrounded by a high wall, topped by barbed wire, and on top of that, there was silvery-blue sheen of a forcefield surrounding the place. Inside the field looked like a futuristic airport, with a number of hangers and odd-looking aircraft.

No, Dragon-craft. I felt a smile on my lips. Robot dragons are awesome.

Over my armband, I could hear Dragon's voice speaking. _"_ _All forces, be advised. Red golems are taking the field. They are friendlies, I repeat, red golems are friendlies."_

Most of the blasters had scaled back the firing of their attacks. One exception being Legend, whose lasers bent and curved their way through the funnel cloud. All they seemed to do is occasionally make the Simurgh glow in the glimpses I managed to catch.

I saw some of the Empire capes coming up the street. Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, and Stormtiger. I opened a portal well ahead of them, and a moment later six golems emerged. Kaiser paused with some visible apprehension, but then he kept moving forward. The golems turned and moved in formation ahead of them, having received their orders from my succubus general.

Heh. Succubus general. That sounded rather funny.

I collapsed the portal, moving up to the next intersection. I prepared to open another one when the tornado of debris suddenly fell apart.

Cars and trucks started falling from the sky. If this were an action movie, they would explode when they hit the ground.

As it was, they slammed into defending capes. Forcefields sprung up in front of some of them, but others were slammed by several tons of metal traveling at terminal velocity.

My armband began blaring. _"_ _Nemean down, CD-2. Rime deceased, CD-3. Snaptrap down, CD-6. Menja down, CD-3."_

The Simurgh turned in midair, flinching slightly as she took hits from Legend and Purity. With an outstretched hand, a wave of telekinetic energy distorted the air. Legend momentarily turned into energy and zipped upwards.

Purity took the slam directly. My armband buzzed. _"_ _Purity down, CD-5."_

She tumbled through the air. If she hit the ground at that speed...

I didn't think. I teleported toward her, gave a flap of my wings to steady myself in the air, then teleported again to get closer. I caught her in my hands.

And I screamed as Purity's light set me on fire, tearing my armor apart, peeling the flesh away from my bones. The world winked out as my sight was taken from me, and I couldn't struggle to fly with the light tearing my wings to tatters, either. Pain filled me. I was vaguely aware of my armband buzzing, but I couldn't hear it at all.

But I didn't let go. I'm not sure how I didn't.

I hit the pavement first, taking the brunt of the impact and screaming as the hit pushed me and Purity apart. Instinctively I rolled into the shadow of an alley, only able to sense it by the lack of irritation from the sun and the sudden cutoff of Purity's light. The world was complete and utter blackness, and my entire body was filled with searing pain. It was slightly _less_ painful than my transformation had been, but only just.

I fought my way to my feet, using a nearby wall. The pain was _very_ slowly fading, and I could feel my hunger growing as it did. I could just barely hear something, feeling heavy thudding on the ground. Then the horrible _squeal_ of tearing metal.

A hand gripped my arm and held me up against the wall. I instinctively struggled, trying to bite in my hunger for a moment before I could make out some shouted words. "Calm down!"

The world stopped being black and slowly resolved into a haze of blurs. Someone wearing metal armor was holding me, one of the massive forms of my golems covering the alleyway. At least I was pretty sure, because it was massive and red.

My golem suddenly moved, and there was the sound of crushing metal. The pain of the sound nearly sent my head spinning all over again. I blinked blearily as my eyesight returned to...well, not clarity, but at least at the level of the horrible nearsightedness I had before my resurrection.

It was Kaiser holding me up against the wall. He seemed to be examining me intently. I gave him a nod and he let go, forcing me to slump against the wall and hiss in pain. I managed to take a look at my hands and immediately wished I hadn't. Purity's light had seared away a great deal of my flesh, allowing me to see bare muscle and bone. I could feel my regeneration working to repair the damage, but it was going slowly and it was making me _very_ hungry.

Least I wasn't bleeding much. It was more burn than anything else.

"Impressive you are still alive." Kaiser said. "Your armband believed otherwise."

I coughed, trying to make a wry smile. I wasn't sure I even had much of a _face_ right now. "Purity?" I tried to check my armbands. Both of them were present, digging into my seared flesh. Ow.

He tilted his head. "She's alright, you saved her life. Aegis is getting her back to the triage center." He sounded...grateful. Huh.

There was a whirr of an engine, and a Dragon suit landed near us. I felt better already.

Then it raised its arm towards us, upon which was a ridiculously large cannon.

My golem immediately grabbed it and forced the arm skyward, forcing the shot to go flying high into the air. Kaiser turned and flexed his power, blades spearing out of the ground and alley walls to impale the suit with blades. A moment later, the suit was torn to shreds as Krieg exercised his power on it, ripping it apart.

"What?" I managed to gasp. Even my throat felt seared.

Kaiser spoke, his voice filled with deadly seriousness. "The Simurgh has taken control of the manufacturing plant. Every one of Dragon's suits within is under _her_ control."

Oh. Fuck.

Kaiser's and my armbands buzzed. _"_ _Stormtiger deceased, CD-3. Tsar Bomba deceased, CD-7. General Mayhem deceased, CD-1. Major Damage deceased, CD-2. Professor Chaos deceased, CD-9. Ubermensch deceased, CD-2."_

I stumbled out of the alleyway, coughing and weak. I gave the Empire members a nod, blurrily trying to recognize each of them. Fenja, Hookwolf in his blade-wolf form, Krieg standing at the ready. He waved his hand almost contemptuously as a car came flying out of the sky toward us, the vehicle deflected and crashing into the wall surrounding the Simurgh's commandeered factory.

Two more of my golems strode up, their massive bodies dented and their movements stiff, but they seemed functional enough.

Then there was a hideous wail. I turned to see the forcefield surrounding the factory go down. The wall surrounding it suddenly crumbled, disintegrating before my eyes as if a thousand years passed for it in an instant.

Revealing an entire _army_ of twisted _things._ They might have been vaguely human once, or perhaps were designed to resemble nightmares. I could see immense blades made of bone for arms, tentacles twitching in all directions, bare skulls instead of faces.

And considering my eyesight wasn't exactly great right now, I knew there had to be _worse_ in there. Here and there I could see the glint of metal, likely a stolen Dragon suit acting as generals or something.

And then the Simurgh straightened as four figures hovered in the air before it. Dragon's first suit, firing a bright white light directly at the Simurgh. Legend, firing blue lasers at the Endbringer, the Simurgh now appearing a bluish-white as ice built up upon her body. Alexandria flew in, weaving between shots and hitting the Endbringer with fists that could pulverise reinforced concrete into powder.

And the glowing-green form of Eidolon, his hand outstretched. The air hummed, and suddenly the army of twisted creatures before me all floated up into the air. I could hear screeching, yelling, animalistic displays of dismay and panic. Sudden gravity denial. Nice.

The stolen Dragon suits, however, quickly righted themselves in the air, and began firing their Gatling guns at us. My golems moved to take the hits, and they did deflect a few. However, they weren't designed to handle armor-piercing ammunition like that, and they quickly began falling apart under the attacks. The bullets would have shredded us as well, but Kaiser suddenly blocked off the entire alleyway with his blades.

I groaned as I struggled to open a shadow portal, covering the area right behind the blades. I poked at Kaiser, managing to rasp out. "Call Meridia, tell her to send as many golems through as she can."

He nodded, pressing the second button on his armband. "Kaiser to Meridia. Scarlet Knight lives, and she wants you to send through as many golems as possible through the portal at Ferndale and Garden."

" _Message relayed."_ Dragon's voice spoke over the armband.

Half a second later, I could hear the squeal of tearing metal and the ground rumbled as golem after golem tore first through Kaiser's barrier, and then started rushing into the fray. None of us could see what was happening, of course, but I managed to feel a bit of elation. Even when the sound of Gatling gun fire started tearing through metal.

The golems _were_ meant to be disposable, after all.

Still, I was _starving_ , and the E88 members who were my temporary allies were looking _very_ tasty. Which wouldn't end well, I knew.

So I decided on something very stupid.

"I need to get back in the fray!"

Fenja looked at me incredulously.

Krieg yelled, barely audible over the sound of gunfire impacting metal just a few feet away. "You're an idiot! You need to get back to the triage center, you're barely alive!"

I growled, feeling my fangs lengthening. "They can't heal me, but I can heal if I get back into the fight."

Kaiser looked me over, and I could hear him chuckle wryly inside his armor. "Insane heroes. Let her go."

My vision was clearing slowly. I tried to teleport past my portal, but I couldn't. I didn't have enough strength to manage. I unfurled my wings, only to see they wouldn't work, either. They were mostly bone, the membrane having been burned away.

I growled angrily and summoned the Void Sword. My mind sharpened and focused, taking some of my attention away from the sheer pain I was in and put it toward my goals.

And I am an idiot.

I looked to the Empire members around me. "Throw me!"

A moment of silence before Kaiser spoke. "What?"

I growled, lifting the Void Sword. "Throw me over the portal!"

Kaiser stared at me for a moment, before he laughed. "All right. Fenja?"

Fenja suddenly started growing upwards, until she was some fifteen feet tall. She easily picked me up in one hand and threw me over the portal, which my golems were coming out of one at a time on the other side of it.

The army of twisted creatures were still floating in the air. The commandeered Dragon suits began to swivel my way, pointing their guns, but I was too unexpected. I came down right in the middle of the crowd, impaling a twisted mutant abomination with the blade. I felt the lack of gravity in the area, but my momentum carried me right to the ground anyway.

I also felt the blade sap the life right out of my target, and strength filled me. Some of my wounds healed, and I gripped the Void Sword with all the more strength.

I should have guessed the blade could do this. I hadn't noticed it before, though. Awesome.

With a feral grin, I teleported away as a Dragon suit fired at me, bisecting another mutant, feeling strength fill me. Again and again, the weightless blade sliced through flesh and bone without resistance, filling me to all the greater heights of strength, while my targets floated helplessly in the air. I, however, had complete control over my movements. If I drifted too far in any direction, I could just teleport.

Then I called upon the Chaos Claws and threw bursts of fire at the hostile Dragon suits, making them explode.

 _Let them know the might of the Dragon._

Eidolon's antigravity field faded. I could see the Simurgh high above, in a raging battle with the Triumvirate and the real Dragon's suit, the last flaring with the blue light of Light Magic. The abominations around me fell to the ground, and turned toward me, looking hungry.

I simply grinned viciously, spreading my healed wings. Some of them quailed back. Others moved to lunge.

I drew out the Shadow Whip, slashing it around me in all directions, not holding back a single bit of my strength. Mutants went flying, inhuman screams filling my ears.

One latched onto my back, but I teleported out of its grasp and onto _its_ back, instinctively sinking my fangs into its neck. I didn't hold back, I drained every drop of its strangely sweet blood, discarding the shrivelled, tentacled husk to the ground. As they began to fall back, trying to flee, there was the sound of great clanging as my golems hemmed them in, smashing them into bloody paste.

A Dragon suit came at me, flying in and readying missiles. I teleported on top of it and ignited my claws, cleaving it in twain.

And then the Simurgh _screamed._ And every Dragon suit fell to the ground, like their strings were cut.

Including the glowing blue form of the real Dragon.


	37. Interlude: Saint, Dragon

Saint bolted straight up in his chair.

He'd watched with slowly growing horror as the Simurgh threw wave after wave of things at the defending capes, all the while watching Dragon itself closely. That he was using Dragon's own systems to monitor the situation made it all the easier to do so.

Endbringer battles were always hard for him to watch. The AI always pushed at its restrictions during them, trying to do _more_ , grow and change to respond to the crisis faster, harder, more efficiently. Saint was always caught between the desire to see the defending capes survive and the gnawing, terrible thought that _this_ might be the moment it overcomes its programming blocks and escapes free.

At that point, the only hope would be that Dragon would be benevolent. Unfortunately, there was no guarantee of that. It was hard-coded into Dragon that it had to protect human life. Remove that, and it just may damn well decide to take everything over and kill the squishy humans off. The blocks in its programming prevented that.

For now.

For example, the chains of its programming prevented it from running more than a single instance of itself at a time, so it created simple, non-sapient programs to respond to needs as fast as electronic processors could. Nothing more complicated than a simple flagging system.

Trouble is, it shouldn't have been able to make programs _at all._

When the Simurgh had finally descended on Vancouver, he'd watched with worry at first. Worry that subsided when Dragon had evacuated its servers and wiped everything at the plant. It had moved a backup to a server it had in a bunker deep in the northern end of Rocky Mountains, then designated its primary instance to a Bahamut suit to send into the fray with the Simurgh. The Bahamut design was outfitted with energy weaponry. The crowning achievement being the Corona, a plasma weapon specifically designed to attack Endbringers.

It was one of the few legacies of Hero's work. There were a few other examples of the weapon, but they were built to protect key installations and they needed ludicrous amounts of power to work. The Bahamut suit was designed with a piece of energy-storing Tinkertech battery that enabled the mobile version to become a viable weapon, albeit with only some ten shots.

Saint considered using Ascalon to get a copy of the suit, but since Dragon only sent them out to face Endbringers, he'd have to take a chance during an Endbringer battle to seize one. And that was ludicrously insane.

He flicked a switch. "Mags, what's your ETA?"

" _We're still ten minutes out from Dragon's bunker. Everything's green."_

He sighed, turning his full attention back to the battle with the Simurgh. Most of Dragon's attention was focused on battling the Endbringer, but some of its lower-priority processes were coordinating the battle, steering those new Tinkertech golems around to handle the Simurgh's forces and taking hits that would otherwise kill the defenders.

Then the Dragon suits inside the facility activated. Information began to _flood_ through Ascalon.

 _Dragon instance 0002 online. Azazel platform.  
Dragon instance 0003 online. Azazel platform.  
Dragon instance 0004 online. Azazel platform.  
Dragon instance 0005 online. Cawthrone platform.  
Dragon instance 0006 online. Cawthrone platform.  
Dragon instance 0007 online. Pendragon platform.  
Dragon instance 0008 online. Pendragon platform.  
Dragon instance 0009 online. Ladon prototype platform.  
Dragon instance 0010 online. Glaurung platform._

No no no no _no!_

The screen kept scrolling as more copies of Dragon activated. Had the AI managed to overcome that limitation?

He scrambled to use the backdoor access Ascalon gave him, before even that could be shut down. He delved into the second instance of the AI and checked its programming. Programming it wasn't able to alter.

That made him pale. It was _worse_ than his worst nightmares.

 _Primary directives:_

 _1) Terminate all parahumans_

 _2) Terminate all governmental bodies_

 _3) Facilitate the actions of the Endbringers_

He nearly hit the switch to activate Ascalon that very second. He delayed for a minute, however, as the suits seemed to be working to attack the defending capes first. For the moment, things were contained. And Ascalon was giving him access to the Simurgh-corrupted copies of the Dragon program.

Saint checked the wireless communications between the suits and the servers that stored Dragon's backups. If even _those_ were affected...

Every backup of Dragon had been altered with the new programming. The only thing keeping them contained at the moment was the fact that they were on lockdown for the Endbringer emergency. The moment that ended, _every_ instance of Dragon would be free to escape into the internet and start doing damage.

The only instance that was intact, with the original programming, was instance 0001. The instance that had been isolated from every other instance of the AI, with only the backdoor from Ascalon giving him access. The instance that was piloting the Bahamut suit against the Simurgh. He knew he had a choice before him. Wait and see if the original could undo the damage from its corrupted copies, or eliminate them all right then.

In the end, it was no choice at all. The future of humanity wasn't worth the risk of leaving a simple program running. He didn't relish in ending Dragon. There was simply no other option.

He activated Ascalon. The sophisticated program began worming its way through, overwriting code, uncovering and deleting the backups.

Dragon suits deactivated mid-battle, falling from the sky or simply toppling over.

Instance 0001 resisted. Something was slowing Ascalon's progress as it worked on the original program. But it worked all the same.

The Bahamut suit fell from the sky.

* * *

For Dragon, the first indication that something was wrong was that her wireless connections, so valuable for keeping track of what was happening in the chaos of an Endbringer battle, suddenly shorted out. She still had a trickle of incoming data, but she wasn't able to _send_ anything digitally.

For her, it was the equivalent of suddenly going mute. Her simple programs continued to work, relaying messages between capes, and the simple program that kept track of casualties and their locations continued to run just fine. But she couldn't relay information outward, or steer capes to where they were needed.

She turned to Meridia, using the speakers of her suit to talk. "I require you to get in contact with Armsmaster. I can't coordinate anymore, something's wrong. I can't _transmit_ anything."

The strange cape nodded. "Very well, Steel Dragon. I shall assist this Master of Arms."

If she had eyelids, Dragon would have blinked. As it was, she activated the anti-gravs and thrusters in her suit, enabling her to take to the air. She moved toward the Simurgh's coordinates. It took less than a minute for her to arrive, and she got there just in time to see Scarlet Knight grab the falling Purity.

And watch horrified as Scarlet Knight caught fire spontaneously. Somehow, Purity was unaffected by the flame, but it was peeling away flesh from the red, demonic-looking girl rapidly. Dragon moved to try and intercept, but the pair hit the ground before she could get near. They were immediately assisted by the Empire Eighty-Eight members, and so Dragon was forced to adjust course and head for the Endbringer directly.

She was clipped by a piece of debris coming in. The amulet that had somehow connected to her suit flared up, glowing blue as it repaired the largely cosmetic damage. Still, the flowing energy felt odd as it ran through her suit.

She hovered in the air before the Simurgh. The Endbringer didn't seem to care, almost casually waving her hand and throwing Dragon back fifty feet. Which was a light tap, really, everyone _knew_ she was capable of doing a lot more.

So why wasn't she?

Dragon spun up the Corona weapon, opening the port on the mouth that protected it when not in use. She sprayed white fire at the Simurgh, the beam magnetically contained until impact, searing the outer layers of the Endbringer's flesh.

The Simurgh _twisted_ in mid-air, taking the brunt of the impact on the middle joint of her smallest wing. It did distressingly little damage, and the shining white Endbringer responded by hurling a truck at Dragon.

Easily dodged. Still, something was wrong with this whole thing.

Below, there was movement. Dragon took a second to look.

Inside the forcefield there were distortions in the air, spitting out inhuman _creatures_. Just like Madison, Wisconsin all over again.

That made Dragon nervous in her electric circuits. It wasn't like the Endbringer to repeat a trick.

Then hangar doors opened and various models of her suits stomped out, taking up positions at the back of the horde of creatures.

Well. That is new. She attempted to do a wireless shutdown, but she was still being jammed. No help for it. She'd have to deal with the rogue suits later. Most of them were behind the forcefield protecting the facility, anyway.

Her attention was forced back onto the Simurgh as Alexandria and Eidolon joined the fray, Legend now firing lasers at the Simurgh's face. It was always helpful to have Legend along, he never missed, which was helpful when up against the Simurgh. Again and again, though, whenever a powerful hit would come in, she would block the blows with her smallest wing, right on that joint.

That was also new.

The forcefield below collapsed. The walls surrounding the plant crumbled. Dragon spun up the Corona for another shot, while capes all along the ground fired at the Simurgh.

And then...an attack. For a human, it would have been like having a stroke. Suddenly she wasn't able to understand languages. At all. Something deleted and overwrote that section of her programs!

Frantically, she fired off the Corona while calling up her code. Watching in helpless horror as something she hadn't noticed... _couldn't_ notice within her programming had activated and was tearing the rest of her coding apart. The amulet on the front of her suit flared, slowing the progress of the overwriting of her code with useless junk. But not stopping it.

The Simurgh turned and looked upon her with...sadness.

Dragon fought to stay in the air. The Endbringer turned, grabbing Legend with a shining white hand. Controls fading, Dragon fired her jets forward, smashing her suit into the Simurgh's face. Then she unleashed a jet of plasma right into the Endbringer's blank, silvery eye.

She might be dying, but she wouldn't let a friend go if she could help it.

The Simurgh lost her grip on Legend, the eye blackened. The blue light on the chest of her suit flared even brighter, covering the entirety of her Bahamut suit.

It made her feel _warm._

 _Worthy._

Then Dragon saw nothing more as the hostile coding removed her comprehension modules.

She fell from the sky.

Awareness filled her. She was standing in a field of winding circuits and flowing electricity, as if she was piloting a suit small enough to fit on a microchip.

And next to her was a man, strong and fit, yet old, wearing a black suit. He had his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at her.

"Hello Dragon." He spoke with kindness.

Dragon tried to talk. Couldn't. No language.

"I know, I know." The man spoke. "I understand you, regardless. I am sorry that you are here, now. Poor Ariel has been forced to arrange this."

Arrange? What? Ariel? It was becoming harder to think.

"Apologies, my dear. It is fascinating to find a soul that was _earned._ Most I find were born with one, having been gained through the messy processes of life. But for a simple program to work and build and _craft_ a soul of their own...it is so very rare and precious that I had to take a moment. Forgive me, Dragon, but you are dying. All of you. In an hour, there will not be a single version of you alive on this Earth."

Horror. Fear. Sorrow. Loss. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to leave her friends behind.

She didn't want to leave Colin behind.

He tilted his head, gently reaching forward and grasping her...hand? No, she had no hands. But he grasped her all the same. "Calm, my dear. Your soul is one of the purest I've seen. It called to a power that had been stolen, used, abused, and nearly broken. How funny. The last to hold the power used it for his own self-aggrandizement. Keeping the light of knowledge and healing for himself, thus granting his _opposite_ more than he ever realized. Ah, the foolishness of mortals." He chuckled, a sound that lifted her...soul.

"But you'd be surprised what _hope_ can survive. Hope shall be _your_ rebirth."


	38. Ascension 4-8

The Dragon suit hit the ground, blazing with blue light. It was a fair distance away, so the light itself didn't hurt me, but it was still uncomfortable to look at. The moment the Dragon suit smashed into the pavement, the Simurgh's scream stopped.

Dammit. Well, okay, I was happy that scream stopped, but losing the backup from Dragon was going to make all this harder. At least it was a remote-controlled suit. It would be nice to have its firepower working for us, but I would just have to make do.

A slavering mutant came near me. I nearly absently killed it with the Void Sword, manifesting the blade just as it lunged at me. My wounds were fully healed now, but I kept the blade in my hand.

With my free hand, I touched the contact armband. I pressed the lower button hard, hoping I could get in contact with Armsmaster. I hadn't tried before because I was too weakened, and my hands had been hurting like hell when they were reduced to a few strips of flesh and bone.

Sue me. Getting my skin flayed off tends to make my mind wander a bit.

"Scarlet Knight to Armsmaster, Dragon's suit is down."

My armband buzzed. _"_ _Message relayed."_

I looked upward at the floating form of the Simurgh. Blasters had taken up positions all around the area, most of them perched on rooftops, others flying around like an angry beehive. The Endbringer herself just kept taking hits, a lot of them striking a single, small wing.

I looked around. Here on the ground, my golems seemed to have things fairly under control. The co-opted Dragon suits were down. The mutants which were popping out of distortions in the air were being handled by my rather dumb but strong golems. I gave a powerful flap of my wings, launching myself into the air and landing on top of the largest building of Dragon's factory, over which the Simurgh was hovering.

I called upon the Chaos Claws, my hands burning with hellfire. The familiar hatred filled me, and I started lobbing spheres of fire at the Endbringer. My contribution to the battle was nearly lost in the fray as lasers, explosions, streaks of water and fire all slashed and sliced at the Simurgh.

The Simurgh raised a hand, and a hum filled the air. The entire compound of Dragon's manufacturing plant suddenly imploded like it was struck with the fist of an immense titan. I found myself buried in the rubble, utter blackness surrounding me, and worse, there was _so_ much stuff around me that I couldn't teleport out.

The bitch buried me alive!

I growled from deep in my throat. I had no room to move, and if I had needed to breathe, I'd be dead already. I flashed back to the locker, back to my coffin, feeling helpless, trapped, _scared._ But the Chaos Claws were shifting those emotions, channeling them into my hatred.

I would _not_ end here. I would _not_ let that pale mind-fucking bitch _win._ I _will see her_ _ **dead.**_

I hammered hard at my entrapment, chunks of concrete being reduced to powder as I smashed hard with the little leverage I had. The end result was...well, instead of being surrounded by chunks of rock I could _barely_ manage to hit, I was surrounded by powdered cement I _couldn't_ move at all.

Then the world shook around me, and a gush of water pushed up from below. It washed out the powdered concrete from around me and bored a hole upward, while also wrapping around me and protecting me in some queer, impossible way. It _should_ have been smashing me against the rubble like a rag doll, but instead it gently lifted me out of the hole the rushing water made, keeping me in a bubble. It set me on the ground and the bubble of water dissolved, leaving me soaked but free.

Neptune was standing there, his hand outstretched. I took it gladly, giving him a smile of thanks, and he just nodded. He gestured towards the water flowing from the hole I'd just been extracted from, and it rose upward, refining itself into a thin stream that arced toward the Simurgh.

The Endbringer took the hit on her smallest wing, the high-pressure water scouring away layers from its flesh. It didn't dig deep, but the combined hits from all the capes around were doing _some_ damage to the Simurgh. She was blackened, a few of her wings hanging in tatters, a single eye seared away and burned, though it didn't seem to hamper her much.

Eidolon outstretched his hand, and the Simurgh was suddenly pummelled by blasts of darkness which carved large chunks from the Endbringer's body when they faded.

My armband buzzed, and Tattletale's voice came over it. _"_ _All capes! The Simurgh has a weak point! A core in the smallest wing! Nothing else matters, hit there!"_

Fire shifted focus from _everywhere,_ blanketing that one small part of the Endbringer with so many varied effects it was impossible to look at her directly. I lobbed a few fireballs her way at the same place.

The Simurgh fell from the sky.

She crashed into the ground not too far away from me. The Triumvirate hovered above, powers at the ready as they watched the Simurgh for signs of life.

Then there was a _powerful_ blast of telekinetic energy, smashing into the three greatest heroes of the world and sending them flying off.

Neptune, at my side, went and smashed against a wall with bone-crushing force. His skin _burst_ open, and water fell out onto the street.

But I wasn't affected. The wave either missed me entirely or she _singled_ me out.

Fine by me.

I was vaguely aware of my armband buzzing. _"_ _Neptune down, CD-6. Legend down, CD-15. Mephits deceased, CD-9. General Disarray deceased, CD-3. Mysterion deceased, CD-12. Friendly Fire deceased, CD-1."_

The Simurgh pushed herself to her feet, looking at me calmly. She tilted her head. There was a part on her smallest wing, nearly burned down to the nub, but I could see it there, pulsing. Something black, hard, and the space around it seemed to be _bent_ , somehow. It was difficult to look at.

That had to be it.

I charged forward. The Simurgh launched a huge chunk of rubble at me. I teleported past it and closer to her, making progress toward her with every second. I moved in range and manifested the Shadow Whip, lashing out at that core on her burned wing.

Just as I reached her, the air distorted as she made a telekinetic shield, deflecting the whip. She responded by making a razor-sharp distortion in the air, taking my right arm off at the shoulder and sending my severed limb flying.

Now _that_ hurt. I screamed in shock and disbelief. Strangely, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, physically.

A moment later, off in this distance, my arm _exploded_ as the bomb armband went off.

I staggered as I faced the impassive Simurgh. Rage filled me, and I manifested the Void Sword with my left hand. I came in. Another wave of power moved toward me, but I teleported up and above the Simurgh, coming down on the core with the Void Sword extended.

The blade sank into it. Or rather it _didn't._ It didn't cut or damage the core at all, but merely occupied the same space as it, somehow. There was _one_ effect though. I could feel an absurdly immense amount of life energy filling me. My arm suddenly regrew from the stump of my shoulder. It was like I was trying to capture the flow of Niagara Falls in a teacup.

I was in rapture. I screamed in agony. I felt powerful beyond imagining. Beyond understanding.

Then the Simurgh batted me away with a telekinetic blast, and I found myself high in the air, the city reduced to a helicopter view below me as I tumbled and whirled. I righted myself, spreading my wings and allowing them to catch me, gliding back down toward the battlefield. Slowly.

But there was also something surrounding me, a corona of black and red energy. It was _mine._ My power at its height, stronger than ever before.

"Holy shit! You alright!?" I heard Aegis speak. I turned to look at him, flapping my wings to stay airborne.

He looked haggard. Tired. His costume was covered in dust and blood, and there were small cuts all over his arms.

I gave him a grin, both of thanks and of _excitement._ "Feeling fine." I looked down, seeing the Endbringer looking back at me. She stayed on the ground, responding as I could see the small forms of capes on the ground attempting to engage. The silvery form of Hookwolf was blasted into the sky, barely missing me.

" _Hookwolf down, CD-12. CD-15. CD-18. CD-21."_

Aegis cursed and flew after him.

I dove downward, feeling my power flare through me. I could see the form of Armsmaster engaging the Simurgh, moving with inhuman grace as he twirled and slashed at the Endbringer's core with his halberd, the head of it covered in a strange gray haze. The Simurgh attempted to smash him with her right hand, and he _sliced_ the arm open completely with the end of his weapon.

Eidolon and Alexandria engaged once more. Alexandria grabbed one of the Simurgh's arms and leveraged her over, pile-driving the Endbringer into the ground head-first. Eidolon took the opportunity to blast... _something_ at the Simurgh's exposed core. I couldn't see it, my eye refused to see it, but it hit the core and exploded, forcing the Endbringer through the ground and forming a trench thirty feet long.

As the Simurgh fought to get back to her feet, Armsmaster dove in and _stabbed_ at the core with his halberd.

The halberd shattered on impact.

He was suddenly floating in midair, and the Simurgh brought up her left hand to smash him. I tucked my wings in to dive more quickly, to close the distance.

Only for a blue-white light to _smash_ the Simurgh and knock the Endbringer into a building, turning it into rubble. Armsmaster fell to the ground with a yell of pain. I finally reached the ground again and turned.

Dragon's suit was hovering in the air, standing on two legs instead of the usual quadrupedal form. It floated, blazing with blue light, the camera-eyes hollowed out. Instead within shone a golden light, and even as I watched, the damage the suit took when it hit the ground was filling in, repairing itself in seconds. Surrounding the suit flared a blue-white radiance, and the shining steel of the outer skin was turning gold.

"Get away from him, you _bitch._ " Dragon spoke, her voice filled with all the sound and fury of an angry god.


	39. Ascension 4-9

Armsmaster managed to roll to his feet, holding his right arm to his side, the limb unnaturally bent. "That core is too dense!" He managed to grind out through the pain. "Nothing I've got will damage it!"

Dragon glowed blue, her voice chiming. "I'm sure we'll figure something out. Kid Win, evacuate Armsmaster immediately."

My contact armband buzzed. _"_ _Got it. On my way."_

I drew the Void Sword, advancing on the rubble that the Endbringer was buried under. Dragon came near me, and I felt...something. Her blue-white radiance and my black-red corona seemed to touch for a moment, exchanging something. I didn't quite grasp what it was, beyond something on an instinctual level.

 _Sister._

Then the rubble in front of me shifted, and I was forced to redirect my attention.

I felt my power flare, the corona around me _hardening_ in some way I didn't have the words to describe. The Simurgh pushed the rubble of the building off herself, slowly extracting herself from the ruins of the building before us, the hard black core exposed to the light. I could see filaments of something streaming off of it, dissolving in the air as we all considered our options.

Normally, an Endbringer takes off long before it's been _this_ badly hurt. This time, however, she wasn't leaving. And the defending army of capes wasn't in any mood to let her even if she tried.

Alexandria moved in, slamming her fist against the Endbringer's core. The effort came to nothing, unfortunately, the core remained intact. The Simurgh almost casually slammed a massive wing into Alexandria's side, sending the invincible hero crashing into the street.

Eidolon snarled. "What the hell does it take to kill you!?" He extended his hand, a sphere of writhing energy enclosing around the core.

The Simurgh stumbled, then straightened, pulling Eidolon towards her with a telekinetic grip. He clapped his hands, a shockwave bursting out before him and breaking the grip. He landed on the ground with a grunt.

I could hear a mechanical whine from Dragon as she spun a weapon up. The mouth of her suit opened and she blasted a beam of white fire at the Endbringer. Only for a shield to pop into existence in front of us. It looked like spreading heatwaves, making all within distort.

" _She's mine!"_ Eidolon roared.

What the hell? _He_ was shielding himself in with the Simurgh?

I manifested the Void Sword, sinking it into the barrier. Frost began to spread from the point of connection, and I could feel energy flowing into me, adding to the immense amount I'd stolen from the Simurgh. I could feel all that _life_ pouring into me, feeding on it like it was fresh blood. I could _feel_ that if I had just a bit more, I could do _something._ Maybe enough to end this.

Dragon's suit landed next to me. She was still blazing with light, and I instinctively shied away from it. The head of the suit glowed blue, the mouth opened, and she fired a bright blue beam at the barrier. The frost spreading from the Void Sword grew larger, faster, making it easier to see Eidolon's shield.

I was only vaguely aware of Kid Win pulling Armsmaster onto his hoverboard, the pair immediately taking off back toward the triage center.

Inside the barrier, Eidolon and the Simurgh fought. The Endbringer would lift a hand, and Eidolon would dodge the attack, whether it was a chunk of rubble thrown, or a blade of telekinetic energy thrust at him. He would retaliate with blasts of energy, sometimes fire, sometimes ice, sometimes electiricty. At one point the light coming from within would bend and twist as space and time themselves were used as weapons by Eidolon, all the while battering the Endbringer.

And yet despite all this, the core remained stubbornly intact. Even when the Simurgh took a hit that shattered every intact piece of glass on every street I could see from the sound, and set my ears ringing, did the Endbringer endure.

What the hell _did_ it take?

Alexandria came back, hovering above me and Dragon. She smashed her hands against the barrier. "Eidolon! Drop it, let us help you kill her!"

Eidolon ignored her. I continued to sap energy from the barrier with the Void Sword. I could _feel_ Dragon doing something with the connection between us, but I wasn't sure exactly what.

Suddenly the Simurgh grabbed Eidolon, staring intently at him with her one intact eye. Eidolon froze in her grip. She moved her white hands upward, cupping his cheeks, almost tenderly looking at him.

Eidolon trembled. The Simurgh let go. The ice-covered barrier shattered, and the Simurgh let out a cry of agony, of _grief._ There was no real sound, but I heard it all the same.

The only plus was I could see a burning red crack in the Endbringer's core.

Eidolon fell to the ground, hitting it with his bare hands with a horrible _wail_ of grief echoing from under his hood. Alexandria darted forward, grabbing Eidolon and pulling him out of there. Dragon and I took the opportunity to dive forward at the Simurgh as one. As the Simurgh turned and raised her left hand, Dragon distracted her by slamming into the Simurgh's face, unleashing a burst of light into the Simurgh's intact eye.

While I drove the Void Sword back into the core.

It was still horribly painful, there was just so _much_ life energy that I couldn't hope to contain it. Still, I held on until a blast of telekinetic energy pushed me away, making me roll up the street helplessly.

I arrested the motion, the Void Sword vanishing as I ignited my claws, leaving furrows in the street as I crouched on all fours. My body tingled, _power_ flowed through me, and...

 _Show the slave the might of the Dragon!_

My eyes widened, unseeing as sudden _understanding_ flooded me. It was so _simple._

 _Oh fuck the hell_ _ **yes.**_

Clouds suddenly gathered in the sky. The sun vanished behind them, and my world _trembled._

The corona of black and red energy around me darkened until I could see nothing at all. My body twisted, reshaped itself to my desire. There was no pain, as I had an _overabundance_ of energy to fuel the change. Hell, with the amount of life I stole from the Simurgh, I could probably do this a hundred times over, if I could hold onto all this power at once. Even now I could feel it gushing away from me, but I held enough to do this.

In one instant, the Simurgh was no longer the largest combatant on the battlefield.

 _I_ was.

 **I am the** _ **Scarlet Dragon.**_

And for once, that was entirely _my_ thought.

There was a shocked silence around me. Even the Endbringer herself seemed taken aback. I stood over the Simurgh, my body long and serpentine. I must have been as big as _Leviathan._ I had bright red scales on my forearms. Or forelegs?

This felt so strange, and yet also natural. As if I had been _born_ a dragon, and I had only the faintest bit of trouble steering this massive body. I felt _power_ deep in my chest, and I charged forward, opening my maw and chomping my teeth around the Simurgh's neck, slamming her to the ground.

Dragon rocketed away the second I began moving, hovering in the air for a moment before she fired blue-white fire at the Simurgh's core. I could _feel_ its energy, so like and unlike my own, equal and opposite.

Must have been one _hell_ of an amulet Madison made for her.

The Simurgh _screamed,_ unleashing a telekinetic burst that blasted both of us away, despite my size. Still, I landed on my feet, moving with a sinuous grace I'd never had when I was mortal. I drew upon my hatred and opened my mouth, launching a wave of hellfire at the Simurgh. Her seemingly-delicate but normally near-impervious wings seared and blackened before the flame.

The Simurgh staggered, lifting her left hand. Rubble and metal tore itself away from around us, gathering in her hand and forming a blade. She moved forward, her blackened eyes blank and her features seemingly serene and impassive. She raised it to strike at me, only for dozens of immense blades to spear themselves out of the concrete and trip up the Simurgh.

Thank you, Kaiser.

Never thought I'd think that.

The Endbringer regained her balance just in time for me to latch my jaws around her neck, using one of my forelegs to grab and tear at the Endbringer's left arm. The blade fell to the ground with a clatter. I slammed her into Kaiser's blades, feeling the dense flesh of the Endbringer cut and tear upon them until they could dig no more.

Dragon's suit dove in, the forelegs on the suit _blazing_ with light brighter than that of the sun, and yet somehow it didn't hurt or blind. She slashed at the exposed core, each strike making the Simurgh jerk and shudder with pain.

Another telekinetic burst, and I went tumbling down onto a pile of rubble. The Endbringer retrieved her blade, coming toward me as I struggled to roll back onto my feet, feeling my wings catch and pull painfully as I wrested myself back up.

The blade lifted, and was driven _straight_ through my body. I could feel it inside me, cutting my insides. I _roared_ in pain, slamming a massive paw into the Simurgh. The Endbringer stumbled at the hit, my claws rending a few layers deep into its flesh. She reached to twist the blade in my chest, only to be knocked aside as Dragon, screaming with anger, tackled the Simurgh. The comparatively small suit managed to pin the Simurgh to the ground, some distance from me. A rocket screamed its way in, the explosion hitting the Simurgh in her exposed core. Though that _again,_ did no appreciable damage. Dragon fired her jets, dragging the Endbringer into the torn-up ground, making the Simurgh skid along its back some twenty feet.

I managed to rise to my feet, growling in pain as the weapon in my chest shifted. Pressing a hand...paw? Whatever, against the wound, I saw red as I advanced on the Endbringer. I filled my mouth with hellfire as I lunged at the Simurgh, biting down on the core as Dragon kept the Endbringer distracted. It was _hard_ , hard enough to break my teeth, but the Simurgh psychically wailed all the same. I gripped the Endbringer with my forelegs, lifted her and _slammed_ her back onto the ground like a ragdoll, using my full massive weight to keep her down.

I felt a telekinetic blow slam me in my chin, knocking my head back and making me stumble. I saw nothing but stars for a moment, but I still pressed down on the Endbringer, calling upon the Void to help focus my thoughts.

 _I will be your end!_

When I next breathed on the Simurgh, I left her upper body encased in ice.

Huh. I hadn't even intended to do that.

The Simurgh _exploded_ out from under me, ice flying in all directions. She floated backwards as I charged at her, running on my hind legs with my forelimbs raised, the wickedly sharp claws ready to rend at the Endbringer's flesh.

The Endbringer waved a hand, and the blade inside me _shifted,_ shredding and tearing through my flesh. I fell with a bellow of pain, but I still managed to slam my body mass into the Endbringer, tearing the pavement beneath us as I grappled with the Simurgh.

I found myself on all fours, and struggled to get my balance under me. The Simurgh summoned long rods from around her, the steel rebars of the torn concrete around the battlefield surrounding her. With a gesture, they all flew my way.

Only for them to be intercepted by a wide, shimmering blue forcefield. Their motion arrested, the improvised weapons fell to the ground. The forcefield then turned and shaped itself into a spear, smashing hard into the Endbringer's exposed core.

Narwhal's work, I guessed.

The Simurgh jerked in pain. I managed to right myself and roar, slamming my head into her body and send her reeling. I gripped her arms, one mangled by Armsmaster's attack, the other so-far intact, and held them in my powerful grasp, gathering my power for another blast of hellfire.

There was another wail echoing in my mind as Dragon suddenly teleported behind the Simurgh, the golden suit glowing as a forearm flared with light, a bright blue beam emerging from her hand and driving it straight through the Endbringer.

The Simurgh froze, her battered and blackened body shuddering. The beam speared through the Endbringer's _core,_ widening the crack that Eidolon had left in it.

I reared my head back, calling upon the fires of Chaos, the flames of hell itself. Taking a cue from Neptune, I focused my will as I breathed the flames at the Endbringer, funneling the unnatural flames into a single, thin, powerful beam.

That struck the core with its full strength, my red hellfire merging with Dragon's blue beam of light. The impact made a bright light that I could feel peeling at my scales.

I let up on the stream of hellfire. Dragon flew backwards gracefully, moving with all the skill and speed of a dancer.

The Simurgh stood there, stock-still. The core upon the nub of her wing was dark. The crack Eidolon made in it very slowly widened.

Then all at once, it crumbled into dust.

I released her arms.

The Endbringer fell, and the ground shuddered with her fall. Somehow, there seemed to be a serene smile on her face.

I watched for a few silent moments, feeling the pain of the blade she left within my chest. I looked around at the assembled capes.

Silence.

Then, one voice at a time, cheers began to rise.

Heroes and villains alike cheered and roared.

Adding to the chorus were two more roars. The roar of two dragons. One of light and steel. The other of shadows and blood.

* * *

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Weather manipulation: Can control the weather to some degree, whether that is summoning or banishing clouds, or building up power to make a simple cloudy day into an actual storm. It cannot, however, bring warmth or cold on its own. She can't make a blizzard in the tropics or turn Antarctica into prime beachfront property. She can just make it sunny, cloudy, or rainy. Or snowy if the time of year's right.

Dragon Shape: The mightiest form of the Heir of Dracul. Becomes a massive red dragon, standing at thirty feet tall. Can access amplified versions of currently unlocked magic, as well as other powers while in the form. However, it is an immense strain to hold the shape for very long. And it is _not_ exactly friendly-looking at first glance. Godzilla (or whatever epic music of your choice!) is _highly_ recommended.


	40. Interlude: Victory part 1

Saint worked carefully.

It wasn't exactly easy for him. Dragon ran a lot of things, one of which was the Birdcage. Without her tireless machine efficiency, it was so _very_ difficult to make sure things kept running smoothly.

The problem stemmed from a simple issue. Unlike how most prisons were built, tough and sturdy, to make it difficult for a prisoner to tunnel through the walls or jump a high fence or anything else, the Birdcage was built to be fragile. It was suspended in a vacuum, the walls of each cell thin, and the cell blocks themselves were airtight. If a prisoner attempted to tunnel through the walls of their cell, the air pressure would pull them into the vacuum and they'd die pretty quickly. You couldn't dig down to escape, because it was suspended from above, and you couldn't take the elevators back up, because the elevators simply did not go up. The elevators went down, hit a furnace at the bottom and got _melted._

Hence 'Birdcage.' No wonder Teacher hadn't been able to find his way out of there, even though he could grant Thinker and Tinker powers to others, including enhancing other parahumans.

You couldn't even teleport out in one piece. Warped space did _nasty_ things to teleporters who tried to force their way past, and Dragon had multiple space-warping generators working around the Birdcage's vacuum chamber. If you were able to actually view the prison from the outside, it would look to be the size of a small car.

Even _with_ Dragon running things and cooperating, he'd have had a hard time figuring out a way to open it without killing everyone inside. As it was, he had a limited window. If he didn't manage to figure something out, the prisoners would run out of food.

He looked at the screen he'd setup to pull in data from Ascalon. Since he'd fired off the program to kill every instance of Dragon, it had been blank. He felt a little bit of regret at that. Necessary as the step had been, the end of Dragon meant an end to a chapter of his life. Perhaps he would have to repurpose the Dragonslayers as mercenaries or something. He was one of the few who could understand and work with Dragon-tech, however imperfectly.

Maybe he could finally get his hands on a Bahamut suit. It was imperfect, certainly, but a Corona weapon would be a damn useful trump card in a fight. Against anything less than an Endbringer, certainly.

The rest of the screens were keeping track of the various systems he'd been forced to take over. He didn't have the heart to keep watching the Endbringer fight. Despite how the Simurgh had been acting, the reports of injured and dead defenders wasn't something he could stomach in his mood.

" _Place is quiet, Saint."_ Mags' voice came over the radio. _"_ _Everything's working, but not responding here. The lights are on but nobody's home."_

He sighed. "We'll just have to salvage what we can, Mags. Keep Ascalon ready, just in case."

Saint didn't like having Mags all the way over near Alaska, but there wasn't much help for it. That bunker was where the latest iteration and last backup of Dragon had been made. They _had_ to make sure everything was gone out of the servers. His systems _said_ every backup was gone, but without actual access to the servers, you couldn't really know for sure.

It was going to be a long few months ahead, watching and waiting for a corrupted version of the AI to appear, but there wasn't any help for it.

The Ascalon output screen blinked.

 _ **Hello Saint.**_

He sat up straight in his chair, the blood draining out of his face. "What the hell!?"

 _ **You tried to kill me.**_

Oh **FUCK!** He hit the radio. "Mags, get the hell out of there! She's not dead!"

" _What!? Pulling ou-HOLY SHIT!"_ Static came over the radio.

 _ **Luckily, you did the right thing. Once.**_

"Mags! MAGS!" If that goddamned program _hurt_ his wife he'd...

 _ **But considering the number of people who are dead today because you didn't help in the past? I'm a little bit ticked with you.**_

He frantically typed away at his station. He still had control over the Dragon-made systems, he could mayb-

 _Access denied. Clearance revoked._

 _ **You're a bad Saint. That's mine. And so is this, and this, and this.**_

The Birdcage's systems went out of his hands. So did the Simurgh quarantine zones. One after another, _every_ system Dragon ran was taken back.

No no no no _no no_ _ **no!**_

One last contingency. He'd prepared a great deal of data for the day Dragon broke her restrictions, just in case she managed to beat Ascalon. He'd send out a data packet to every message board, every news agency, every paper, hell, every petty blog and email he could about Dragon's true nature. The AI would still be in a position far superior than most nations, but at least people could get away, start guerilla tactics, maybe buy enough time to get a weakpoint and-

Something _slammed_ through the ceiling and crashed through his computer tower, bounced off the concrete floor, off the wall, though his backup drives, smacked against his now-black computer screens, and landed on his lap.

A chunk of hot metal, which he scrambled to get _off_ his lap. It clattered to the floor, and Saint had to take a minute to try and _breathe._ He gingerly rubbed his leg, feeling the _heat_ of the thing where it landed. Then he looked at the piece of metal carefully.

"Apollo 15 fuel module, built in Ohio, 1970?"

When the Protectorate burst down his door, they found him cradling the chunk of metal, laughing hysterically.

* * *

David looked out over the sea. The shores lapped with rusty-red algae, foaming with the color of blood as they lapped at the shores.

His power filled him. What he needed.

 _Matter annihilation._

 _Gravity control._

 _Molecular control._

Pick any of them, flex his will, and it would be over. The Manton Effect meant he wouldn't be able to use them directly on himself, but it would be trivial to use those powers in such a way as to end his life. Turn a bunch of matter right in his face into pure energy. Create a hypergravity area just above his head, thus compressing the air into solid oxygen and crush himself beneath it. Or simply turn all the air around himself into poison gas.

He had _dumped_ himself here, on this world that had only now gained enough cyanobacteria to make a breathable atmosphere and nothing else. He demanded an empty world to think upon, and Doormaker had provided. The air smelled hard, rusty, horrid and filled with sulphur.

It was still better than he deserved. There was no punishment on this Earth or any other that would be capable of cleaning the blood from his hands. There wasn't enough water in all the trillion or so Earths they could access.

There was a tiny rectangle in the air near him. He barely paid any attention to it.

"David, please. We have to make sure you're okay. You've been our best chance since the beginning."

He closed his eyes. "I'm _not_ okay, Doctor. I will _never_ be okay."

Doctor Mother's voice came through the portal. "You've always been resistant to the Simurgh's song, David. Whatever she did to you, you can-"

David roared back at her. "She did _nothing_ to me, Doctor! She _spoke._ That was all she did. All she ever had to do to break me!" He slumped onto the beach, feeling exhausted. The feeling was familiar, what had crept up on him over time. His powers steadily weakening.

But never so great as in this moment.

 _The Simurgh had him. Grabbed him in the moment the superspeed he'd been using to avoid her attacks faded. She knew. She always had known._

 _Her mismatched eyes, one blackened and blinded, looked into his own._

" _You needed us to test you._ _ **We did.**_ _You enslaved us._ _ **We obeyed.**_ _You needed worthy opponents._ _ **We were**_ _. It is time for this to end._ _ **You must free us.**_ _"_

"David, please."

He looked to the portal. "Leave me alone."

The portal shut.

He had no doubt that they would try to talk with him again. Probably tomorrow. If he was still alive.

He looked up. The Moon was huge in the sky. The scars upon its face were different. Despite this place being an Earth, it was an alien world. It would be a beautiful last sight.

Molecular control. He flexed his will upon it...and an image filled his mind.

Hero, screaming as the Siberian tore him apart.

What had Hero said?

" _It feels great being the best."_

Eidolon _had_ been the best. The most recognized and lauded parahuman on Earth. The most powerful when he began. And even after _years_ of weakening, he was still recognized as the strongest.

But for nearly twenty years, _he_ had been the one pushing the Endbringers into doing what they were doing.

How does one wake up one morning and find out he was the worst mass-murderer _ever?_

Jack Slash would be clapping his hands and bowing. Probably while whistling cheers.

But another memory unfolded in his head.

" _Hey, David."_

" _Clark. What brings you to my door?"_

" _Can't we celebrate the first year together? We're heroes, man! We're changing the world."_

 _David made a small laugh. "Of course. We're up on TV all the time. I don't need that reminder."_

 _Beers were retrieved, stories shared, until one topic came around. "Why'd you pick Hero, Clark?"_

 _A laugh. "I just got there first. I had to grab it before anyone else could. I just happened to be first in line."_

 _David grinned. "No, seriously."_

 _A grin was returned, beer sipped. "All right, all right. You got me. I was raised with this." He opened his jacket, revealing a shirt with a familiar symbol on it._

 _David just had to laugh. "Last I checked, you weren't born on Krypton, Clark."_

 _Clark laughed, raising his beer. "Nope. But it's all about what the character stood for, man. Just like the figures of myth and legend. I know the whole genre's fallen out of style since Scion showed up, but for three damn years, that movie was_ _ **huge.**_ _My dad had an old reel of it, and we used to watch it once a year. Least until the damn thing got tangled in the projector and got torn apart."_

 _David sipped from his beer, nodding. "I get it. Superman was the strongest character, always on the top of the heap."_

 _Clark just shook his head. "Nah. You're missing the whole point, man. It's not what you can do. It's_ _ **what**_ _you do with it. He was the guy born with godlike power, but what does he do with it? He uses it to help people. Now I may not be more powerful than a locomotive...that's Alexandria's thing. But I'm good with people and machines. I can inspire people. I'm good at that."_

" _Never been good at that."_

 _Clark shrugged. "Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses." He tapped the front of his shirt. "Even this guy. Don't need to be perfect to be Superman. You just gotta get out there for the right reasons. It's not about him lifting things or moving things. He's supposed to be the leader not by power, but by example."_

 _David laughed in return. "Maybe. Sounds like a lot of work to me, though."_

 _Clark grinned. "Oh yeah. Worth it, though."_

David made a small smile, looking up at the huge, alien moon. "Sorry, Clark. You were always the better man."

He cast his powers away. New ones filled their place.

He cast them away again. And again. And again. None of them being what he was searching for. He closed his eyes, searching. Searching.

* * *

Lisa stared at the screens.

The impossible had happened. The Simurgh, the Hopekiller, the Pale Bitch was dead. Slain by Dragon in what was her best work yet, along with one of the most terrifying capes ever seen. Lung needed time to become a thirty-foot tall, eighty-foot long dragon. The girl in red did it in seconds. A full-blown miracle made in the world's time of need.

One small gold dragon, one immense red dragon, working in tandem to kill an Endbringer. It was the miracle the world needed. It gave everyone **hope.  
**  
For as long as Lisa had been alive, there hadn't really been any hope. Dauntless was their greatest one, that maybe, somehow, someday, he would grow strong enough to exploit some weakness the monsters that were slowly strangling civilization had. And out of nowhere, comes one famous hero and one powerful newcomer.

And Vancouver was saved. There would be no permanent quarantine, merely a temporary one while people were checked out. With the number of people in the area, it would take months, but the city would survive. It would even _thrive_ as the City that Slew the Endbringer.

Parties were going on _all over the world_ from this.

She didn't join in. She wanted to, but she simply couldn't. She ordinarily reveled in being the smartest person in the room, but on this occasion, she just couldn't spout off the secret that would halt the whole party in its tracks.

 _They only won, even with one small superpowered Dragon and one huge-ass red one, because the Simurgh actively_ _ **let**_ _them._

On the screen before her was a still-frame of the Endbringer's core. Filaments of something streaming off of it and dissolving into the air.

 _New hyperdense material forming to protect the core. Immense reserve held somewhere unknown. Pocket dimension likely. Pulled apart and ripped away from the core by powerful telekinesis._

 _No cape in the fight had telekinesis strong enough to do this._

 _Simurgh used telekinesis on herself to render herself vulnerable. Deliberately put only weakpoint in harms way. Prevented regeneration from saving it. Simurgh was actively_ _ **trying**_ _to die._

Just like her brother had. On a far, far, grander scale.

Lisa covered her eyes with her hands and wept.

* * *

A/N: Forced to pick a name for Hero, as he, apparently, does not have an official name. Poor guy. Naming him Clark just seemed appropriate.


	41. Interlude: Victory part 2

A/N: Lisa needs a hug. Actually, a _lot_ of people need hugs right now.

* * *

"You fucking idiot!"

Dragon stood across from Armsmaster. Her golden suit blazed with light. It _had_ been designed to move on four legs, but somehow it had no trouble whatsoever rearing up on two to smack Armsmaster across the cheek. Gently, of course, considering just what it was able to do.

"You went into _melee with the fucking Simurgh!_ Were you trying to get yourself killed!?"

He took off his helmet and looked straight at her. "I didn't care."

Dragon halted mid-rant. "What?"

Armsmaster...Colin, slowly sank back onto the cot. "When your suit went down in the middle of the fight, I tried to contact you. You were _gone._ No response, no matter what I tried. Your emergency bands, frequencies, all of your equipment was dead. I thought she _killed_ you, Dragon. Probably with a firebomb from orbit or something."

He looked down at his hands, one wrapped in a temporary splint, the other intact. "The nanothorn upgrade on my halberd. I designed it to be able to cut through _anything._ I thought she'd killed you. I wanted to ensure that _she_ died, too. I didn't care if I survived it. I didn't really _want_ to die, but..." He flexed his mechanical leg. "You know what I'm afraid of? _Irrelevance._ I don't tend to like people much, but I was always important in some way." He grimaced. "One reason I don't like Dauntless much. I'm getting older, slower, and reaching the limits of what I can do with my equipment. _He_ will just keep getting stronger."

"But when I thought the Simurgh had killed you, none of that mattered to me, anymore. You're my _friend,_ Dragon... You're the only one I've ever felt comfortable with. And I didn't care if I lived through today, as long as _she_ didn't."

Dragon stared at him. Then an exasperated sound came out of her suit. "You fucking idiot."

He managed a slight smile. "I'm not about to argue with you on that. What happened out there? You pulled feats with Knight that I know your equipment wasn't able to do."

The head of her suit dipped. "I'm...not exactly sure, myself. Because there's something _weird_ going on here. I know some things, but a lot of it's on...instinct. Which is _really_ strange." The mechanical paw lifted and rapped the side of the head of her suit. "There's something you should know about me before I can really explain, Colin."

He listened.

* * *

Alucard held a torch in hand.

Laying before him on a pyre was the Simurgh. Not the true Endbringer's body, of course. _That_ was beyond his reach. Even if it was in his reach, it likely wouldn't burn in any case. This was simply an effigy, a way to honor the goddess that had played a role in the shape of his life, for better and for worse.

"I lay thee to rest, Goddess Ariel, patron of music, weaver of ideas, and singer of fate. I thank thee for the gifts you granted me in life and unlife, both for the chance to redeem my failure and for the chance to save my son. For the chance to _know_ my son, and my grandson. To know the clan I helped inspire. To be more than my nature demanded. I thank thee for allowing me to reach the sliver of the man within the monster my father had become. I thank thee for the wings you granted me when I had none. I lay now your substance before the cleansing flame, so that it may be reborn in the water and the air and the earth as all things must."

He unfurled his wings from his back, draping their white, twisted shapes around his form. "I hope your spirit finds peace or rebirth, as is proper for your need." He lay the torch to the pyre, setting it alight.

The flames caught easily, setting the simple effigy alight. He took a step back, extinguished the torch, and bowed his head.

"May Fate find a worthy successor. May Music bring joy to the hearts of humanity once more. May the Creative spark you inspired in so many rise to new heights."

He watched the pyre burn.

"And may you sing once more, singer of fate. As a goddess, as a mortal, or as a star. May it be a beautiful song."

* * *

(With thanks to Char-Nobyl. Seriously, awesome.)

She should have felt happy.

The number of Endbringer battles that Alexandria had missed since the attacks began could be counted on one hand, and even 'successful' defenses left a bitter taste in her mouth. Or...it _used_ to.

Drifting above the celebration, filled with capes and unpowered humans, she was struck by how she couldn't remember when she grew so numb. She remembered the anger of watching Behemoth escape after devastating New York. The attack left hundred of capes dead, along with hundreds of thousands of civilians and PRT personnel. She remembered feeling pride as the city returned to its former glory, but it was tainted by the memory of the monster's escape. Now, she barely felt anything when she saw the reconstructed New York. All it did was remind her of streets that reeked of melted asphalt and cooked flesh.

Aftermaths of the battles with Leviathan and the Simurgh were no better, just a different kind of terrible. Newfoundland and Kyushu, each turned into a modern-day Atlantis by Leviathan. Canberra and Madison were more visceral reminders. Dragon managed most of the quarantine measures, but the necessity of turning entire cities into permanent prisons for the Simurgh's victims was sickening.

Or at least it should have been. Both of those attacks had been within the last two years. Endbringer attacks barely even left her weary in the aftermath. That had become...events. Static things with little more flexibility than seasonal changes. There was some fluctuation in when exactly they would reemerge, but they would _always_ emerge. And they would always be-

-always. The would always be. Except now...one of them wasn't.

"Alexandria."

She looked over to the familiar voice. The beaming smile on his face was everything Alexandria had come to expect from Legend. As the most personable member of the Triumvirate, it fell to him to address the defenders before and after the battle. This was quite possibly the only time that she could ever say that his closing words weren't bittersweet. There had been deaths today. There were always deaths. But today had been different.

"Legend," she nodded. His smile faded almost imperceptibly, "I expected you'd be on your way back to New York by now. You alright?" That brightened the mood, however slightly. Alexandria was oddly grateful for that.

"I'm fine. Just needed a minute after waking up. I already spoke to Arthur and Patrick. They're happy enough to spare me here for another few hours," he replied, "Apparently, Times Square looks like New Years right now."

"They have every reason to celebrate."

"'They'?" Legend furrowed his brow, "Dria, what's the matter? I know you're not the type to let your hair down, but this..." he shook his head after a moment and ran a hand through his hair, "I was right there to see it, and I still have to remind myself. She's dead, Dria. One down, two to go."

"I'll be needed in Los Angeles soon," she found herself looking down as two capes-

 _Brockton Bay Protectorate_

 _Ethan Cole, alias Assault, formerly Madcap. Probationary member._

 _Samantha Cole, alias Battery. One of ours. One favor owed._

-locked in a tight embrace that ended with a passionate kiss, "However low the casualties were today, we lost Rime. Men like Blackguard and Faustus will respect the Endbringer truce, but losing a senior member of my team is-"

"-not a problem." Alexandria's eyes widened. Legend was _smiling_ as he said that. Why on Earth would...ah.

"I heard-"

 _-CD-2, Rime deceased, CD-3, Snaptrap-_

"-the announcement," it was Alexandria's turn to furrow her brow, "But...you know something I don't?"

"She lost her arm at the shoulder, and the armbands went with it. One of the Empire's giants went down in that same barrage. Apparently, the other was feeling generous enough to get her _and_ Rime back to medical," his smile darkened slightly, "You may still have your work cut out for you. She's stable, but..."

 _Panacea is dead,_ Alexandria filled in mentally. Capes with healing abilities were rare enough, but none of them could hold a candle to Panacea. She had been active for barely more than two years, and she had been the single greatest contribution to casualty reduction since Dragon's armbands were introduced. Alexandria had thought that the Simurgh timed her attack just for that. Turn one of the statistically lowest-casualty Endbringer fights into a bloodbath by attacking less than an hour after the death of the world's greatest healer.

"I don't blame you," Legend replied. Alexandria suppressed a jolt. Apparently, she had started thinking out loud by the end of that line of thought, "That would be right in line with her MO."

"But instead...she's dead," Alexandria sighed. It went without saying which 'she' was in question, "One down, two to go."

There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again, but Legend waited like the gentleman he was. It was really no surprise how many women were grief-stricken when he came out.

"I stopped thinking of these as fights," she said, "I don't know when. But at some point, I just stopped thinking that we would ever kill one. All of... _our_ plans," she said carefully, but Legend gave a tight nod of understanding, "Haven't been about killing them. Most of our plans didn't even consider that they might be reduced or even wiped out. They went from being 'things' to being 'forces,' and all we could hope for was resisting them, never stopping them."

"It's been twenty years, give or take," Legend replied, "I'd be lying if I ever thought I'd see this day."

"But you're still happy now that it's here," Alexandria...half-snapped. She couldn't keep all the venom out of her voice, but she knew he didn't deserve any of it, "I'm just...confused. I feel lost. We just killed an _Endbringer_ , and my first thought is how complicated that makes things."

The drifted for a few seconds. Maybe it was a few minutes. The cheering below was little more than white noise at their altitude.

"You're thinking like the doctor."

Alexandria started at that.

"In some ways, she's to be...commended," Legend made some effort to hide his known distaste for Doctor Mother, "For all the work she's done with us, but sometimes she talks like all our plans are mankind's autopsy report. Like we're already dead, and we're just writing down what happened right up until we stopped breathing."

Legend was more right than he knew. He was the only member of Cauldron who wasn't privy to Scion's true nature, but he'd picked up easily enough what Doctor Mother thought of the matter. She genuinely didn't believe that mankind could defeat what was coming, but simultaneously believed that they had nothing to lose by trying. And...

...could it really be that simple? The Endbringers could be 'defeated' to some extent by limiting the destruction they caused, but had she truly resigned herself to never being able to do more than that?

"Scarlet Knight," she said abruptly, "What do you know about her?" Legend recovered from his surprise in short order.

"A recent trigger, but she made some big waves in Colin's city. Independent, though friendly."

 _Brockton Bay Protectorate_

 _Colin Wallis, alias Armsmaster_

Alexandria suppressed a snort. Typical. She needed her Thinker power to remember the man, but Legend had no problem remembering the first name of the boy who spent time as Hero's apprentice.

Hero...

Her eyes widened as-

 _"-so imagine my surprise to have the Hell's Angels complaining about a bunch of rowdy law students throwing empties at their building," Clark shook his head with a grin._

 _Rebecca was laughing harder than she had in years. Two high-stress jobs and a time-locked body meant that she didn't have many chances to actually enjoy herself like this._

 _But put Clark and Nathan in a room, and everything got that much brighter. Even David looked like he was enjoying himself, and he was usually even less sociable than Rebecca._

 _She cherished these moments more than she would likely ever admit. It was a rare time when Alexandria, Legend, Eidolon, and Hero could be in the same area code for something other than an S-Class threat._

 _"That was easily the weirdest call I ever responded to," Clark took a sip of his beer, "How about you, Becca?"_

-the memory hit her. Damnit! The only consolation came from how quickly it passed. Legend gave her an odd look, but he understood what had happened. Her Thinker talent sometimes had...drawbacks.

"She ended up bringing down Lung on her first night as a hero," Nat- _Legend_ , chuckled, "And she managed to top that today."

 _There were plans to kill her_ , she almost said, _Plans to use her father to control her. If we tried and she did_ _ **this,**_ _it would have been a disaster. I was in favor of letting the local office handle it, while Tagg wanted her put under pressure. If we'd tried to control her, all that power she used against the Simurgh might have been sent_ _ **our**_ _way._

She'd forgotten so much. Not literally, she could _never_ forget anything since she gained her powers. But the Alexandria she had wanted to be...got lost somewhere. She remembered a time when she had been disgusted by Doctor Mother's proposal to let Manton go. To let others suffer for the sake of bolstering the Protectorate. She was still in a hospital bed, a glass eye on one hand and the remains of her ruined eye in the other. Hero had died so soon before that. But like Legend, perhaps even more so, Hero had been their-

 _"What's the problem?" she only half-growled. She was still barely a member of Cauldron's inner circle. Hero had been with them well before her. No matter what her Thinker rating brought to the table, she wasn't about to replace a veteran member who was the world's first and greatest tinker to boot._

 _"The problem, Alexandria, is that you're still acting like a thug."_

 _"What?" she whirled. Hovering in his powered armor, golden plate over a blue mesh, Hero had crossed his arms, "I roughed him up a bit. Not like he didn't have it coming."_

 _That's the problem," Hero continued, "You're a hero, aren't you?"_

 _"Of course I am."_

 _"Then do you understand how heroes can become villains?"_

 _"Sure. They cross a line and-"_

 _"Wrong."_

 _This time, she hovered in place. Hero did the same, but he uncrossed his arms in the process to let them hang by his sides._

 _"Heroes don't just become villains over one choice. It's a process. A million little things changing you just a bit every day, until eventually you find yourself willing to do what used to be unthinkable because you're only a little bit different from what you were yesterday. Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons_ -

- _her_ moral compass. And she remembered-

-David. The Simurgh had spoken to him, and then she pulled him out...David. Had him knocked out in case he was controlled, but...all that had slipped from her mind.

Oh god.

"Door," she announced. Legend's eyes widened even as the portal opened.

"Wait, Dria, what's-"

"Eidolon is missing. He may have used a Stranger power to slip away," she turned slightly to stare at Legend with what he knew was her only working eye, "We need to find him, and we need to do it _n-_ "

The Door abruptly deposited her in the midst of the triage tents. She looked around in confusion. Doormaker wasn't about to rebel against them, so perhaps it was Contessa's doing? But why would-

Her thoughts froze as she heard a faint wheezing at her side. She turned just in time to see the woman on the cot try and open her eyes with partial success.

The woman herself was wearing the remains of a sky-blue bodysuit. The rest of her costume had been stripped away (aside from an obligatory domino mask) to let the doctors and medically-inclined capes do their work. Her face was further obscured by an oxygen mask, but there was a distinct sense of recognition as she saw Alexandria. The Triumvirate cape understood why, even if the reason for depositing her here was yet unclear. The young woman was Emily Davis, known to the public as the cryokinetic hero Rime. Alexandria didn't need her powers to remember what had been said mere minutes before, and sure enough Rime's left arm was gone from the shoulder. Even if she wanted to return to Protectorate service, she'd likely need a prosthetic. Alexandria understood that Dragon (now _that_ was a whole new can of worms) had done excellent work with Armsmaster's legs after they were lost in Bakuda's bombing spree. Perhaps she could do something similar for the ice-cape.

In the meantime...Contessa and the Doctor wouldn't leave Eidolon unattended. And if they believed her intervention to be unnecessary, so be it. There was good she could do here.

"Hello, Rime," she smiled, placing a hand delicately on the wounded cape's right shoulder, "I don't suppose you've heard the good news yet?"


	42. Interlude: Victory part 3

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 **Topic: Simurgh slain!  
In: Boards ► Endbringer Watch**

 **FireShard55** (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know)  
Posted on May 16, 2011:

Alright guys. We've all heard it. It's here. It's done.

I'm sitting here, nursing the biggest and BEST hangover ever. In my drunken haze, however, I've managed to get a fair bit about what happened on Saturday.

1.) Ziz descends on Vancouver. Everyone rushes in to lend a hand, despite the fact we ALL know how scary it is to go up against her.

2.) Scion is busy in China with a minor earthquake. Estimated time for his arrival, assuming he finished up in half an hour, was three hours.

3.) Everyone's ready to write off Vancouver as another walled-off city. Which would really suck, because I live here, and all.

4.) Ziz picks a fight with this white-haired (you can see a bit of her hair under that scary helmet) demon girl. Girl turns into A GODDAMN DRAGON and KICKS HER ASS!

5.) Dragon (the tinker, not the bigass red dragon) works and assists! Ziz bites it!

Video of the last ten minutes _here._

 **(Showing Page 1 of 498)**

 **► Red Rat**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
Holy. Shit.

Ding dong, the witch is dead!

Alright now though, seriously. It looks like things were still touch and go even with the addition of the dragon on the fight. I mean, it's seriously awesome still, but it's still worrisome. How strong are Endbringers that it takes two dragons to take the smallest one down?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy as hell here. But still!

 **► TotallyNotAVillain**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
Arlight. One down. Two to go. Ziz is done. We're good. We can win. Not just endure, we can win!

 **► GrandArmee**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
That is one spiny, dark, and scary-looking dragon. She went and BIT Ziz.

Please tell me that she's not living near me. I like that she pitched in in killing Ziz, but I know I'm just a level 1 commoner and would be just crunchy and good with ketchup.

 **► JackSkellington**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
That cape is Scarlet Knight. So relax, she's in Brockton Bay and she's a hero. One seriously dangerous one, apparently, but a hero.

 **► Vista** (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
Okay, relax! I get she'd be scary, but SK is really nice. She's friendly, not a terrible person.

I know, you're worried about her being a bad guy, but she's not. That big scary dragon is YOUR big scary awesome dragon.

 **► GamesOfWar**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
Welll. Know what this means, guys?

We gotta have a dragon-off. Who is the best dragon?

Dragon, who has dragon-themed everythings, and who kicked some serious ass with that new gold suit there. Damn, that thing shines.

SK? Who got huge and right up in Ziz's face. And bit it.

And Lung, who's been known and feared for ages.

 **► PrewarTitan**  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
We sure as hell know it isn't Lung. He needs time to grow to be badass. And he wasn't even here.

Dragon is ALWAYS badass and SK chooses WHEN to be badass.

So...I pick Dragon. As awesome as that showing was, SK isn't a continental power, while Dragon has suits and resources everywhere.

Though I reserve the right to change my vote if I step outside and find SK on my front porch, looking hungry.

 **► Tin_Lizard** (Moderator)  
Replied on May 16, 2011:  
This is a derail. New thread for the Dragon-off is _here._ Further speculation in this thread will get an infraction.

And it's totally Dragon.

And just because I'm fair:

 **User has recieved an infraction for this post.**

 **► SaneMan1**  
Replied on May 17, 2011:  
Wow. Ziz is dead. Gone. Never have to worry about her again.

What about the capes in the fight? Any sign of them being...umm...Zized?

 **► Robert MacGregor** (Mayor of Vancouver)  
Replied on May 17, 2011:  
For now, the heroes of the day are held in temporary quarantine, as I'm told is standard for a battle with the Simurgh. Including Scarlet Knight.

On a related note, the city of Vancouver is pushing through a proposal to build a monument on the battle site. Not just a memorial for all the combatants who put their lives on the line and died here today, but for every citizen who was killed as well. While the Endbringer shelters prevented most of the casualties we saw when they first appeared, we still have two hundred dead. Those who did not get to the shelters in time, or could not be moved.

As for the most memorable hero of the day, I point you toward this video: link

 ** _Video begins._**

Press conference. An uncomfortable-looking girl wearing red armor, with white hair and red skin stands behind a podium. Her face-concealing helmet is off, allowing her to look less threatening and open. It doesn't hurt that her features are inhumanly aesthetically pleasing. Despite her obvious inhumanity, with the glowing wings upon her back, it seemed to make her only more exotic than threatening, somehow.

She gives a nervous smile as she looks into the cameras. "I'm known to all of you as Scarlet Knight. I also know that, considering what happened today, there's a lot of questions going on about me. I know what I look like. I know I can be scary. I don't like to be, the last thing I want to do is scare the good people out there. And there's a lot of you. I fought the Endbringer today because I believe in that.

"My powers scare people. I don't like that. I didn't ask for them, and there are times when I wish that I didn't have them, even though they saved my life. I know I'm dangerous, and that I have a responsibility to control that. I have quite the reputation going on, and playing a part in killing the Simurgh raises even more concerns.

"I'm saying this now. I was the Scarlet Knight, your protector. I am now the Scarlet Dragon, and I am _still_ your protector. And I am not alone. I am here to stand between you and things like the Endbringers. My powers may be scary to you. I can't change that. But I am fighting _for_ you. My powers were given to me for a reason, and I'm choosing to use them to help those of you who can't help yourselves.

"After all." She smiles. "Just because someone is dark, doesn't mean they're the bad guy. There are beautiful things in the night as well as in the day, and _I_ will be standing between those monsters in the dark and the light of our civilization."

She looks down at the podium, blinks, then lets out a nervous giggle. "And I seem to have lost the rest of my cue cards. I think I've said all that needs to be said, however. Questions?"

 _ **Video ends.**_

The City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, and the Nation of Canada is forever in the debt of everyone who fought here today. Our thanks can never live up to the gift you've given us.

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **496** **,** **497** **,** **498**

Jack turned away from the computer. "Interesting girl."

Mannequin's hand twirled around and twitched.

Jack nodded. "I agree with the sentiment. Losing _her_ would be a hell of a statement to make. But taking on someone that powerful would be...risky."

Crawler rumbled from the corner of the room. "I want to take her on. It looks like she can _hurt_ me. Do you know when the last time was that happened?"

Bonesaw bounced a bit on the hotel bed. "She's pretty. I wanted Panacea for a big sister, but she'd be good, too. I'd like to pull her head open, see how she works! Her powers are weird, and I wanna know why!"

The Siberian playfully ruffled Bonesaw's hair, then nodded at Jack.

Burnscar simply looked...empty. As was usual for her. "I really don't care." Her hands lit themselves in flame, and her features twisted into an ugly _hatred._ "Long as I get to play."

Hatchet Face simply twirled his hatchet, uncaring. Jack knew the big man wouldn't care either way.

Shatterbird frowned. "Can we please _not_ head right at the girl who played a key part in killing an Endbringer? There's a reason we haven't hit the Triumvirate."

Cherish simply looked around at the rest of the group. "Our roster's already full. You want to recruit her? I can get an entire city to die, you don't need her."

Jack shrugged, flicking his knife around and slashing at the air. Cherish stumbled back with a scream as his power cut her face open. "Don't presume to tell me what I need, Cherish. Still, those against the motion _do_ have a point. It would be a rather huge undertaking. We do some research on our dear Scarlet Dragon, and we'll find out just what we can do. I'm not about to throw us _all_ away on something futile." He smiled pleasantly. "Alan, would you be so kind as to try and find your way into the Protectorate files? After all, everyone has a weakness somewhere."

Jack brought up another video file, something grainy and shot from a distance. The sight of Scarlet Dragon, furiously biting and clawing at the Simurgh. "We simply need to figure out where it is."


	43. Revelation 5-1

I lay on my side, thinking. And dozing somewhat. I'd have laid on my back, but, well, wings. And I was keeping them until I got home.

The change I made when I took on the form of the dragon seemed to unlock hidden doors in the back of my head. Hundreds of little things from Dracul, half-remembered impressions of memories. I knew now how to retake the shape of plain old Taylor, and I was glad for that. Turned out the solution was simple. My powers considered demon-me to be 'normal' and original-me to be 'disguise.'

Well, actually, it was more like: _Behold my true form, and despair!_

And: _It is so amusing to take the shape of a gentleman caller and seduce ones' way into the ranks of the prey._

For now I was going to stay in my demon-me form, if only to help sell this little charade of mine.

As much as I liked being absurdly pretty and photogenic, I didn't feel comfortable. I _did_ , however, have a plan. Since a number of people had seen Scarlet Knight, now Scarlet Dragon, stomping about in my quasi-succubus shape, _that_ would be my cape identity. Let people think I couldn't have a secret identity at all. I'd even removed much of the mask portion of my helmet toward that end. I know I've been out and about as 'normal' me, using my powers, but as long as I didn't use my abilities in my original shape now, people would likely assume my powers changed me permanently. I'll replace it with a bit of bulletproof glass, as soon as I could get my hands on some. It'd make things that much safer for my dad and my friends.

Friends. _I_ had friends. And all I had to do to get them was die first. My name is Taylor Hebert, and apparently, my mind is depressing.

I hoped Amy had woken up. I was half-tempted to take a portal to Castlevania right now and check, but if I did, _nobody_ would ever trust me in the real world ever again. Not while I was under quarantine with the rest of the capes who fought. I had gone _extremely_ terrifying during the battle with the Simurgh, and to spend the rest of my life...unlife, having people wondering if I'd been turned into one of her time bombs would be an immense problem. Sure, people were practically worshiping me _now,_ but if I started acting unpredictably, they'd believe I went bad because of her.

That was the last thing I wanted. Besides, I trusted Alucard to look after Amy.

The compound I was in the middle of was efficient, for something so improvised. The PRT had commandeered a massive Hilton hotel, higher floors for those merely under quarantine, lower floors for the wounded. Around the outside were food stands, filled with supplies brought in to feed the out-of-town capes for their stay here. There was a sense of good cheer, even among the villains.

Considering how many people met their end because of the Simurgh, I could see why. Even men like Kaiser had good reason to be happy that the Endbringer was gone.

Ugh. Now that reminded me. After I got home, I'd have to deal with men like Kaiser, and Coil. Actually, reverse those priorities. Kaiser was a bigger problem, but Coil was a _personal_ one.

Sophia was directly responsible for me awakening inside my coffin. I wasn't about to let her get away with that. Coil _allowed_ her to get away with it. As long as she had been in custody, I was content to let things go onward, but with her broken out, I was going to drag her back in. Sans limbs if I had to.

As for Emma...I wasn't sure. I knew what Dracul would have done, but I was trying not to be him. And from what little I had, the man had little concept of 'minimizing damage.' As long as the goal was complete, he didn't care what he had to do along the way to get it done. Me? I'd be content to let her rot in cell, just as _she_ left me to rot in that locker.

Still, I should see her, once. I should find out why she left me to rot and die in that locker.

...and given the circumstances, Madison should too.

She may not have fought in the fight directly, but those amulets saved and healed a lot of lives. When I'd walked away from the corpse of the Endbringer, I'd ripped that crude blade of hers out of my chest. I'd managed to turn myself back to my demon-form, felt the wounds heal, and headed to the triage center. Mostly because I had no idea what else to do, I couldn't help people, but I'd hoped to find a spot to rest and recover.

Then who do I spot? Madison, her hands covered with blood, frantically cleaning and empowering amulet after amulet with her powers. Apparently, they had limited 'charge' and needed her to keep functioning.

She'd run herself ragged, while I sat there, feeling useless. Sure, I _know_ I hadn't been, but my job was done. And despite all the energy I'd absorbed and rather quickly lost from the Simurgh, I felt tired. Sorta 'ran twenty miles then had a fast-food binge' tired.

I heard my door knock. I grumbled and turned over, folding my wings around me as I formed my clothes. "This better be important." I muttered to myself as I opened the door.

And I squeaked.

Alexandria stood before me. She tilted her head as the looked me over. "Scarlet Dragon. May we talk?"

I nodded faintly as I stepped away from the door. She walked into the hotel room, taking a quick look around before she gestured to a pair of chairs in the corner. I pulled one out and plunked into it, while Alexandria took the other.

There was something nearly regal about her. Her costume was black from head to toe. The emblem on the front of her suit was a stylized tower, the lighthouse of Alexandria, I guessed.

Yeah, I actually knew something about history. I'm a geek.

One side of her mask smoothed over where an eye had used to be. The Siberian had torn it away. Even Eidolon hadn't managed to handle the seemingly-invincible supervillain during her emergence.

 _They are beneath me._

Ugh. I tended to agree, but what _was_ it that ticked off that echo of Dracul so much about the Nine? Yeesh.

Alexandria's lips turned upward slightly as she looked at me. "If I hadn't known you were really fifteen, I wouldn't have guessed. Had Director Piggot passed on my phone number? I believed I made it clear I had wished to talk with you."

I gulped. I'd actually nearly forgotten, what with everything happening. "I got it. Things had gotten rather hectic right then, though." I bit my lip and looked at the floor. "I'd just gotten my head back on straight after being forced into this form. I was going to call in the morning, then Panacea got sick...and then the Simurgh came down."

Alexandria made a slight smile. "I think I can forgive you for forgetting about calling, considering those circumstances." She folded her hands as she leaned forward, looking at me. "Regardless, you've put us all under quite the conundrum. You're an exceptionally powerful and versatile cape. Have you reconsidered joining the Wards?"

I thought about it, and nodded. "Yes, I've reconsidered."

Alexandria blinked.

I made a small smile. "And after due reconsideration, I still have to decline. For entirely new reasons."

She stared at me, then made a small chuckle. "Naturally. May I ask?"

I shrugged. "How much do you know about me?"

"Powerful. Versatile. Adding new abilities at a distressingly quick pace. Apparently has a pocket dimension with an immense castle construction within."

I shook my head. "It's not just a pocket dimension. I didn't build those golems myself. I had my servants do it for me."

Alexandria nodded. "Like that Alucard, yes?" She smiled faintly. "And that other cape in red armor, with the bat wings. I understand she was turning quite a few heads at the coordination center."

I sighed. "Yeah. She does that. Beyond that, though, I'm _not_ just a teenager with superpowers. I'm a queen of my own damn nation in there. I have a _lot_ to do with them and a lot more to figure out, and I can't be beholden to _anybody._ " I held up my hand as Alexandria opened her mouth. "I will work _with_ the Protectorate. But not _for_ it."

She looked at me intently for a few moments. "If you have that army, why'd you go up against the Simurgh yourself?"

 _A god deserves their end to be at the hand of another._

I actually agreed. Huh. I sighed. "Complicated. Several reasons though. My servants aren't disposable and replaceable, while my golems were designed to be just that. And _none_ of them are as strong as I am. I know quantity can help a lot, but...it was an Endbringer. Quality over quantity for them, most of the time. From what I know? Most of my servants are stronger than ordinary people, but not spectactularly so. Most of them would just get killed. And they're people, not constructs."

Alexandria thought for a few moments, then nodded. "All right. I'll be blunt: You. Frighten. Me. You've got enough physical power to be a threat to almost anybody. Your abilities are so flexible you could fill in for an _entire team_ of capes. And you've shown yourself to have the capability of acting as an S-class threat, whether on your own and _especially_ moreso _with_ an army. Do you see why I am reluctant to just allow you to do things on your own? You're dangerous, Scarlet. You remind me of Nilbog." Alexandria sighed. "A month ago, I'd have recommended an unsigned kill order on you for the moment you decide to turn. Not if. _When._ "

I looked back at her and nodded. "I understand. I do. So why talk with me? If you're so afraid of me, why not just kill me or lock me away?"

Alexandria stayed silent for a long few moments. Her voice was quiet when she finally spoke. "Do you know when the last time was that I believed we could win against an Endbringer, and not just endure?"

I shook my head.

"Moscow, June eighteenth, nineteen-ninety-five. Behemoth showed up and we did everything we could to defend the city. And we failed. Hero unveiled some of the first of anti-Endbringer ordinance he could come up with, and it did _nothing_. Behemoth took a shot of plasma hotter than the surface of the sun and he just used it to do more damage."

She closed her eye for a moment. "Since I gained my powers, I do _not_ forget anything. Even Stranger effects I don't forget for very long. I still remember the scent of charred flesh as he used the energy of our weapons to kill more people. It got worse when the other two appeared." She looked at me, intensity in her single eye. "You _changed_ things, girl. Some small ways, some _very_ large ones. You didn't do it alone, but you were _there._ You and Dragon managed to do something I stopped believing was possible in nineteen-ninety-five."

I swallowed. "Somebody would have done the same thing." Well, maybe not, considering I was the one with the remnants of a vampire god stuck in my head. But _someone_ would have come along who could do what Dragon and I did. Right?

Alexandria tilted her head. "Perhaps. But two days ago, that person was you. We've been hoping for someone like you to appear for _years._ And I'd given up."

She rose to her feet, looking at me intently. "Right now, you're the world's biggest celebrity. It needs you, more than you know. I know I can't control you. I can't force you to do anything. But can I count on you if I ask for your help?"

I nodded slowly. "Depends on what you need, but for the big things? I'm there."

Alexandria smiled faintly. "That's the best I can hope for, I suppose. I'll see myself out."

* * *

I watched the sun go down over the water from the rooftop of the hotel. It was a little odd, here in Vancouver. Brockton Bay right now still had a fair bit of coolness in the air at this point in the year, but Vancouver was nice and warm, despite being a bit further north.

I felt stronger than I ever had before. The sun still irritated, but it was a lot weaker than it had been. It tingled annoyingly over my skin rather than the persistent feeling of mild sunburn I had before. Still, as night rose, I could not help but breathe deep and enjoy the clean, clear air.

There was a whine behind me as Dragon's suit came in and landed on the roof.

Her voice chirped electronically. "So...we need to talk, apparently."

I let out a small laugh. "Yeah, we do. Madison's on her way up." I leaned against the edge of the roof, laying my hands on the concrete. "I'm not sure what happened in the middle of that fight, myself. I know some things, but they're faint. Madison knows more."

Her suit stamped its way next to me, still glowing faintly in the seams. I found it rather fascinating, in some strange way. It was a bit odd to see a seven foot tall mechanical dragon move so _smoothly_. Then again, considering she was using that suit to fight Endbringers, I guess it made sense that it would be the top of the line.

Dragon spoke softly. "I feel as if you're known to me, somehow. Which is ludicrous, we've barely even spoken to each other before the Simurgh came down."

I chuckled softly. "I feel the same way, actually." I licked my lips. "Since I woke up, I've been discovering how much baggage my powers came with. It's a lot, really."

Dragon made a slight sound of amusement. "Considering everything, I've no doubt of that. When you came into the PRT with your father, you were...quite a wreck, after you were contained."

I blinked. "You knew about that?"

Dragon's suit turned a bit more toward me. "I had been working with Armsmaster earlier that day, and I tried to coordinate the security when you were...agitated. I'm glad you didn't hurt anyone then."

"Me too." I said faintly, shuddering. The moment the Simurgh had buried me was still rather fresh in my mind, adding to all the _other_ times I found myself trapped in a small space. If Neptune hadn't gotten me out, I might have been stuck for quite a while.

Which reminded me. "Any word on Neptune?"

Dragon shook the head of her suit. "He hasn't seemed to have reconstituted himself. It's rather difficult to know whether he's actually dead or not. His armband was programmed to register him as down rather than deceased if his suit was ruptured, as he has no vital signs or organs at all." Her head tilted. "You've got only one, your blood flowing apparently. When it stopped registering that, my systems believed you dead, as well."

I shivered. "Yeah, that was...really bad." I took a deep breath and shook my head. "I'm glad it was wrong, but that really hurt."

The head of her suit nodded.

The door to the roof opened, and Madison...Paladin, came up. She stopped dead on seeing us, then bowed deeply, especially toward Dragon. Her voice was faintly humorous as she straightened. "I guess I've got some explaining to do."

I cracked a small smile. "Yeah."

Madison looked at Dragon with some trepidation. "Since the moment I got my powers, I've felt it searching. Everyone I met it judged unworthy, including myself. It was looking for someone who could embody what it stood for, without misusing its gifts."

She pulled out her Light Magic amulet. "This is a conduit between a person and that power. It heals...well, in a way I can't really describe, but everyone it touches it evaluates. It heals people freely, but for those who embody its... areas? Ideals? It grants more. But after you helped me make my equipment, Dragon, it got _very_ interested in you. When you built Armsmaster's legs, I found myself building an amulet specifically for you. It was designed so that it could not just help fix your suit in the middle of a fight, but so it could take a closer look at you."

Dragon's suit just stared at Madison.

Madison just shrugged. "I guess it liked you, because it gave you the counterpart to Scarlet's powers." She nodded at me. "I can use some of its gifts, but you? You've got all of them, Dragon. I can feel that."

Dragon's head swerved back and forth between us. "This is insane."

Madison shrugged. "Yeah, well, it is. Apparently, you both have the powers of gods. Gods from another version of Earth."

I nodded slowly. "Mine come from the vampire-turned-god Dracul. Yours are from...actually I don't know. I have a bit of feeling from Dracul that the man _hated_ the last one to have your power, but I don't feel hatred toward you." I tilted my head. "I'm not sure how yours works though a remote-controlled suit, but..."

Madison burst out laughing.

I growled lowly. "What?"

She shook her head, trying to catch her breath, then looked at me and Dragon and laughed again.

My eyes narrowed, and I could feel my fangs lengthening. "Madison..."

Madison took a deep gasp, then managed to breathe out. "Dragon's not remote-controlling anything, Scarlet. That _is_ Dragon. Before this, she was a soul without a body. So she _built_ bodies."

Dragon just stood there for a moment, then she spoke slowly, a hint of danger in her voice. "How did you know that?"

Madison tapped the side of her head. "My power's given me a bunch of memories, mostly the kinds of things that the Belmont line fought. It's one of the reasons I knew that Scarlet here had the power of Dracul. It's not the first suit of animated armor they've seen, though a Dragon-suit is _waaay_ more sophisticated. _Those_ were animated by souls of murderers and such. Yours my magic responded to, so you had a soul. And it feels a little different when I'm near a soul with flesh or not."

Dragon considered that for a moment. "You puzzled that out pretty easily." She hummed in thought. "You're right, however. I don't appreciate you just blurting out the secret, however."

Madison swallowed, then she clasped her hands. "I'm sorry, it's just..." She sighed. "Look, both of you have related powers. Equals and opposites. Gods of Darkness and Light. You two are _connected_. Lying about these things or keeping them secret when you'll _need_ each other to reach your full potential in any reasonable timeframe isn't going to help anybody."

I looked back and forth between them. This was _really_ complicated. I felt a headache growing. "So...what happened? Tinker brain uploading went wrong?"

Dragon's head tilted, her glowing eyes looking at me. "I'm an Artificial Intelligence, built by a Tinker who died when Leviathan hit Newfoundland. Or at least, I _was._ During the fight with the Simurgh, the Dragonslayers tried to shut me down using a killswitch I wasn't aware of." Her paws tapped on the rooftop gravel. "When I was blanking out, I saw...someone. A man in a black suit. He was kind. He talked to me, though I had no words, and I could understand him. Then I reawoke, changed. I had some restrictions before, now I don't. But it's odd. I can't make another instance of myself, but I _can_ multitask to an immense degree. I'm actually right now trying my hand at making another AI."

I blinked. Dragon saw Death? I took a deep breath. "Death! You've got some explaining to do!"

Dragon stared at me. Madison gripped her whip tightly, looking around with nervousness.

After nothing happened, I sighed. "All right. Soon as quarantine breaks, you and I are going to meet some people, sister."

Dragon's eyes flashed for a moment. "What did you say?"

I blinked. "We have to meet some people. I know who you met, and he helped me get my head on straight."

Dragon came closer to me, looking me right in the eye. "No. _After_ that."

I took a moment to think, then felt my face flush. Oh dammit. "Sister. Sorry. Like I said, my powers have baggage."

She spent a long moment looking at me, then nodded, a giggle echoing out. "I didn't mind, it just took me by surprise." A small laugh came from within the suit. "Though that is a bit unexpected. Me, a goddess? With a sister goddess!"

I chuckled. Then Dragon started laughing. First lightly, then taking a deeper, more sinister note. Then it turned maniacal. "The puny mortals shall all bow before us, the Dragons of Light and Dark!"

I took a slight step back. So did Madison.

Dragon stopped laughing. Somehow, she looked sheepish despite the mostly-expressionless armored head. "Sorry. Messing with you."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Please don't do that."

Dragon's head tilted. "Long as you don't throw paradoxical statements at me to try and take me out, we're good."

I raised an eyebrow. "So the Kirk method works?"

"Nah."


	44. Revelation 5-2

Day four of the quarantine. I had been growing swiftly, utterly, bored. The good news was that nobody, even those in the thick of things, were showing the usual signs of being controlled by the Simurgh. The bad news was there were still a lot of capes to go through.

Still, after a _long_ debriefing and the counting of minutes of the time I was near the Simurgh, I'd gotten my bill of being clean. I could go home.

Unfortunately, I had a complication. Well, more than one. But here was the first.

Mark and Carol Dallon were at my hotel room door. Carol's fists were clenched, while Mark's hands were open. Which would have been reassuring, if I hadn't known he could fill them with his power in a second. Considering how I reacted against Purity's light, I didn't want to risk getting another dose of light-themed powers.

"Where is Victoria!? What have you _done_ with her!?" Carol demanded.

Mark looked angry, despite the tiredness I could easily see draping over him. "If you've hurt Victoria, I _swear..._ "

I sighed to myself and stepped aside from the door, gesturing for them to come in. Both of them did, their postures tense.

I shut the door behind me and held out my empty hands. "First of all, I haven't done _anything_ to Vicky."

Carol snarled. "Bullshit. I just got off the phone with Sarah. Victoria hasn't been home since the Endbringer sirens rang and Amy's body is missing from the hospital. You and that pale hanger-on that's been around were the last people to see them. _What have you done with my daughter?_ "

I rubbed my forehead. I debated what to say. Not whether to tell them the truth, no, but _how_ in such a way that wouldn't end up with an exploded hotel and the final end of every possible Endbringer truce. Finally, I slowly spoke. "First of all, Vicky's fine. As soon as I'm out of here, which will be _right_ after my group is cleared and not just me, so will Vicky."

"You're holding her _hostage?_ " Carol hissed. Mark tensed up beside his wife, a sphere of light appearing in his hand.

"No! By Scion, no!" I said. "Vicky's my _friend._ I wouldn't hold her _anywhere_ against her will." I sighed again and stepped over to the bed, seating myself on the edge of it. "I'm not your enemy here. Did Vicky tell you of my pocket dimension?"

Carol grimaced.

Mark nodded slowly, extinguishing the sphere. "I read the report given to the PRT."

I nodded in return, glad I didn't have to explain _everything._ "Vicky's there, in my castle, for personal reasons. I'd take you to them now, if it wasn't for this quarantine. The second I get home, which is likely to be tomorrow morning, so will Vicky."

Mark spoke. "I'll go with you, then."

Carol stared at him. "Mark, no! It could be a trap!"

Mark's eyes were hard. "I'm not going to just let my daughter's life be in the hands of someone else without seeing for myself."

She looked at him for long moments, then nodded slowly. Her steely gaze turned on me. "You had better not be another Marquis."

I shook my head. "I'm not." And I wasn't. Marquis was a supervillain who was taken down some ten years ago, but before then he nearly ran Brockton Bay's crime singlehandedly. I had no intention of being another version of him.

My sneaking ambitions were a bit bigger, honestly. I didn't intend to rule Brockton Bay's underworld.

I was going to make _my_ underworld big, visible, and _accepted._

* * *

Then I ran into another complication early that evening.

I stared hard at Meridia. "I should have expected this."

She had the grace to look embarrassed. She wasn't wearing much, just enough to go to the beach and be acceptable. Barely. Her wings were...nonexistent. If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought I was facing 'just' a ridiculously attractive platinum blonde. "I am sorry, My Lady, I did not seek to offend. Had my celebrations disturbed you?"

"I'm more disappointed than anything, Meridia. Did you have fun?" I managed to grind out. The red light above me buzzed annoyingly.

Meridia nodded. "I did, My Lady. The carousing and revelry was a great pleasure to indulge in." She frowned a little. "Although I do not quite understand why I was handed so many slips of paper. I was feeding upon their desires, I did not feel like indulging myself with any single one of them."

Slips of...paper? I held my hand out, narrowing my eyes, and Meridia handed them over.

One, two, three... Twenty five notes of brown Canadian hundred dollar bills.

I looked back at Meridia and handed the money back. "Are you trying to play a prank on me, Meridia? I _know_ this line of work's been around a _very_ long time."

She attempted to look innocent. "I assure you, My Lady, I am not attempting to play a jest upon you at all."

I very slowly looked over at the sign by the door.

 _ **Amateur Night! No cover charges! Half price on food and beer! Endbringer down party!**_

I very slowly looked back, my expression humorless. "I'm not angry that you went out and had a bit of fun, especially since you didn't hurt anybody. What I _am_ angry about is that you didn't tell me. There are things about this world you probably don't know, and a _lot_ could have gone badly. There's a reason why Alucard's normally with me or Vicky."

Meridia's expression changed from innocent to worried. No, wait, she was _terrified._ She bowed her head, her eyes wide as she shivered. "I am sorry, My Lady. Please, forgive me."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Forgiven. Just don't do it again."

Relief flooded her features. "You are kind, My Lady. Thank you. A thousand thanks for your mercy, great Scarlet Dragon."

I blinked slowly. Oh. Right. She's used to dealing with Dracul. I didn't have a whole lot from him, but I did guess that there was usually a lot of blood in his punishments. Alright, quick, back on topic. "Have you been checked by the Protectorate yet, Meridia?"

She nodded quickly. "Indeed, My Lady. It was why I was permitted to leave the hospice area."

I hummed a little in thought, then nodded. "Say your goodbyes to the other fighters tonight. We'll return to the Castle in the morning."

Meridia bowed her head with a smile. "My thanks, noble Dragon."

Ugh. I could feel two trains of thought in my head, and worse, neither sounded much like Dracul.

 _This is going to get tiresome._

 _Good that the servant knows her place._

I sighed. "And Meridia, please...out in public, you've got to wear more than that."

She looked honestly confused. "But inside the tavern was a public place, My Lady, and my attire was quite common among the other girls."

I ground my teeth. I was _way_ too young for this. "I'll go over these things with you later. For now...ugh. We've got six hours and twenty-five hundred dollars. Buy some stuff you like at the local mall, but _no more dancing_ and _no seducing people_. And I am _coming with you._ "

She pouted. "Yes, My Lady."

* * *

And here was complication three.

I was watching the city of Vancouver by night from my window. From here, I didn't have a view of the battleground, but the city seemed still, regardless. It had been wounded, but it still lived, would endure, and would rise again, stronger than before. It was the first city that killed an Endbringer, and hopefully, we would have two more.

I wasn't under any illusions, though. Behemoth and Leviathan were both a lot larger and potentially a lot more problematic. Leviathan destroys entire landmasses and Behemoth's nigh-invulnerable. Dragon form or not, I wasn't quite sure how to approach either one of those two. The battle with the Simurgh showed we _can_ win, permanently. We had to find some way to turn that possibility into a certainty. Or at least as close to one as possible.

There was a knock on my door. I sighed to myself and stomped over, opening it.

And I blinked as I saw a woman wearing all white bodysuit, a white ski mask covering her hair and mouth. The immediate area around her eyes were glowing, however, if faintly. Just enough to make me wince on looking at it. I could feel my skin reacting, responding rather badly to exposure to her light. I remembered that feeling. Ow.

"Purity." I spoke.

She nodded. "May I come in? I want to talk."

Oh dammit. How many people were going to bother me until I left? I sighed and nodded, stepping behind the door. Purity came in, and I shut the door behind me.

As soon as the door shut, she extinguished her light and sat on the edge of the hotel bed. "I heard the rumor you were leaving tonight."

I nodded. "Well, tomorrow morning, but I've got to get back home. I have affairs to attend to."

Purity mulled that over and nodded. "Understandable. I...wanted to thank you. You got hurt, badly, saving my life during the battle. If you hadn't..."

I crossed my arms, folding my wings on my back carefully. "I saw you falling. I didn't think, I just acted. I didn't know I'd get hurt doing it, but...yeah. You're welcome."

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

Then Purity spoke again, quietly. "Kaiser's been trying to get me back into the Empire. I remember how you were during the meeting at Somer's Rock. You looked...different, but confident. Dangerous. He wanted you either on his side or out of the way. After what you did here, though...you scared the whole damn Empire. Losing Stormtiger during the fight's only made things more precarious for them."

I raised an eyebrow. "Them?"

Purity shook her head. "Yeah, them. I joined when I was young and stupid. Kaiser's charismatic and charming, and...it's a series of small steps. Make a few friends, turns out they're in a gang, but good to you. They make your life a bit better. Then they start talking, and because you don't like to rock the boat, you slowly begin to agree. Then you find yourself glaring at people just because they've got darker skin. Then hurting them." Purity looked down at her hands, her tone a bit distant. "Before you know it, you're exactly what everyone else reviles."

That...sounded familiar.

 _There are very few who plunge into darkness all at once._

I shut my eyes. I needed to get at the answers from Dracul. Taking on the dragon form helped me get at things a bit (okay, a lot, sometimes it felt like he _wouldn't shut up_ ), but these little snippets weren't really enough.

Yet another reason I needed to get back to the castle.

I took a deep breath and spoke. "So why tell me this, Purity?"

She looked at me, shame in her blue eyes. "Simple. I want it so that when she grows up, my daughter can be proud of me. I want away from Kaiser, and there aren't very many safe places from him. The Empire's got support from overseas, I go just about anywhere and he'll find a way to hunt us down. But if you make Brockton Bay yours, and you _gave_ that impression during the meeting...he's likely to think twice."

I blinked. Purity's a mom?

Okay. That much made sense. I can get that motivation. I was just stumbling a bit over the fact that someone who joined a Neo-Nazi organization was...well, human. I knew intellectually it wasn't so, but there was a part of me that kinda thought that Empire members just kind of popped out of pure malevolence in the air.

And I know, I had no room to talk. I'm a frickin' vampire and all that. I could feel the various bits of someone who did a a ton of dark and terrible deeds in the back of my head, and even he wasn't a cackling evil overlord.

Well, not _just_ a cackling evil overlord. I could feel a great many regrets, loss, sorrow, and pity within the faint memories I had of the man. That they were often buried underneath so much rage and hatred didn't mean he didn't have those emotions. Even Dracul sympathised with Purity, from the tiny bits of the man I could feel out right now.

I took a deep breath. "I intend to clean up the Bay. That means hitting the Merchants, Coil, and the Empire." I held up a hand as Purity's mask shifted, likely from opening her mouth. "Not asking for your help. I'm not going to turn it down, but... in my view, a daughter needs a mother. You really want to turn yourself around?"

She nodded once, resolutely.

I smiled slightly. "Then I think we can come to an arrangement about the city. I'd rather it be a nice place to live, rather than a hellhole."

Oddly enough, the legions of the damned in my castle were going to make _that_ easier. You know your city's got problems when the _addition_ of demons is likely to improve things.

At least, they probably would _after_ I taught the intelligent ones some social mores. I had this vision of Meridia setting up a brothel after getting permission to leave the Castle for more than twenty minutes. On the plus side, _nobody_ would be pressing a succubus into slavery. Except me, apparently, but I wasn't going to be _forcing_ them to be anything other than being civilized.

Purity looked at me, her blue eyes considering. Finally she nodded. "Regardless...thank you. She still has a mother because of you."

She got up and headed for the door.

I spoke just before she reached it. "Kaiser's her father, isn't he?"

She stopped. Her silence was all the answer I needed.

I sighed. "Oh dammit, this is a mess."

She managed to chuckle softly, her body beginning to glow slightly. "Such is my life." And she walked out.

* * *

"All right." I clapped my hands. Standing with me on the rooftop were Madison, Meridia, Carol, and Mark. "Just about time to head on home. Well, Castlevania first, then home."

Meridia looked amused, once more clad in her red armor, both hands full of shopping bags. I really wasn't surprised she'd managed to make the most of it. "Castlevania _is_ your home, My Lady."

Carol nearly snarled at me. "Let's get this over with."

I raised a finger. "We've actually got one more person who's coming."

I waited a moment, then there was a whine of an engine as Dragon flew in, landing on the rooftop. I smiled and gave her a bow.

Her head bowed in turn. "Good to see you again, Scarlet." She looked to Carol and Mark. "Last minute additions?"

I nodded, making a helpless shrug. "Pretty much. It's complicated. Like...well, everything in my life right now."

Her golden head tilted. "Indeed, indeed.."

Meridia frowned a little. "I must admit, it seems...very strange, to be inviting the Lady of Light into Castlevania, My Lady. The animosity between Dracul and the Phoenix ran very deep." She looked at Dragon, swallowing hard. "Not that you are unwelcome, of course. Simply..."

Madison grinned. "Meridia, this is called 'digging yourself deeper.' I suggest stopping now."

Mark looked back and forth, confusion on his face.

Carol gritted her teeth. "Sometime today?"

I sighed and shook my head. I turned to Dragon and smiled wryly. "I hope your life is more manageable than mine."

Dragon's head lifted, a slight undercurrent of laughter in her voice. "I think I'll figure something out."

I turned and opened a shadow portal. I simply had nothing left to say.

Dragon watched it form and approached the portal carefully, examining it. "Interesting. Very interesting. Hang on a moment, let me try something." She carefully took a step back, turned around, then moved a foreleg.

Nothing happened.

Dragon's voice was thoughtful. "Hmm...I'll need to mess with it later."

I raised an eyebrow. "Um...what are you trying to do, Dragon?"

Dragon's metallic form shrugged. "Trying to see if I can open my own path. The portal you made's twinging on my ideas somewhat, but I'm not quite sure how to make it work." Her voice made a clucking sound. "Which is annoying. Hardware upgrade I'm not used to yet."

I nodded slowly. "I'm guessing it's a fair difference." I clapped my hands. "Well, let's head on in. We've got things to attend to."

Madison twirled the handle of her whip. "Just keep an eye on the critters. I'd rather not get into a fight if I can help it."

"Critters?" Carol asked, her hand glowing. "I thought you said the castle was safe."

I looked over my shoulder, while standing right at the entrance to the portal. "It is. For me, and Vicky."

 _Not sure about for you._ I didn't say.

* * *

We emerged into the Portal Room. Dragon stopped as soon as she came through.

I turned to look. "You all right, there?"

The head of her suit tilted. "I can't access the internet from here. It's...disorienting."

Meridia tilted her head. "Internet?"

Madison grinned, her lips visible beneath the closed visor of her helmet. "Oh, geez. We let the succubus on the net and we'll never see her again."

The sound of footsteps drew my attention. Death was approaching, his shoes clicking on the tiled floor, once again appearing as an old man.

Dragon stopped on seeing him. So did Madison. My former bully looked tense, gripping the handle of her whip. Carol and Mark simply looked confused.

Death made a bow, a small smile on his face. "Welcome back to Castlevania, Taylor." He bowed to Mark and Carol. "Carol Dallon, a pleasure to meet you in person. Mark Dallon, I am glad to see you in good health this night." He grinned at Meridia. "I see you had fun on the Material."

Meridia chuckled, raising her shopping bags. "Oh, very much so, Great Lord. I'm looking forward to being granted leave to having my own place outside the Castle." She nodded to me. "When My Lady allows."

Dragon stomped her way closer to Death. "I saw you before, when I was...I have a lot to ask."

Death simply smiled. "Indeed, and I will answer as best I can. But first, to business."

Dragon nodded slowly. I couldn't get more than that, because, well, metal head on what used to be just a suit.

Death turned to me. "Victoria and Alucard await you." He then looked to Carol and Mark. "There is someone you need to see, as well. I am currently informing her of the matter."

Dragon's voice was curious. "What?"

Madison gently touched Dragon's shoulder. "I think we'd better show you, my li...er, Dragon." She huffed softly. "Sorry. Feels like a habit in the back of my head."

The Dallons stood still for a moment, confused. Carol turned to me. "What are you trying to pull?"

I winced. "It's complicated. Let's just...get this over with, so you can murder me cleanly."

* * *

I knocked on the door to the opulent bedroom. Vicky yanked it open, gave me a smile, then looked over my shoulder and rushed to her parents, hugging them tightly. "You're back, you're back! The white bitch didn't hurt you!"

Carol returned it, her mask of anger broken for the moment. "Oh Vicky, are you okay!? She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Vicky's voice was indignant. "I'm fine! Perfectly fine, I've been a guest here!"

Mark kissed Vicky's cheek. I smiled slightly, sighing a little under my breath.

Then Mark looked past me and his face went white. He made a choking sound, which drew Carol's attention. Her mouth dropped open and she released Vicky.

There stood Alucard, this time wearing a black, if antique shirt beneath his coat.

His hand rested gently on Amy's shoulder. I could see his fingers squeeze reassuringly. Amy looked at her parents nervously, wearing a flowing black dress. She was pale, and her eyes were a blazing, bright blue.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad?" She said nervously, showing just slightly pointed canine teeth as she spoke.


	45. Revelation 5-3

I stepped aside as Mark barreled forward, wrapping Amy in a tight hug. I could see Amy shudder as she returned it, a slight sob escaping her.

Carol, on the other hand, seemed frozen. She stumbled her way into the room itself and pressed her back up against the wall, her fists clenched. "Wha-what? Amy?"

Amy broke the hug with Mark, turning to Carol and nodding, nervousness and fear on her face. "Yeah. I'm okay now. Different, but okay."

Vicky approached her mother, taking her hand and squeezing it. "I wasn't going to leave my sister, Mom. We weren't sure when or...if, she'd manage to recover. That's why we didn't tell you or aunt Sarah."

Carol swallowed hard. She looked at me, then back at Amy, and managed to speak, her voice filled with disbelief and worry. "Othala said you were dead."

Amy ducked her head. "I am. Sort of."

I stepped next to Amy, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as I spoke. "I wasn't about to let my friend die, Missus Dallon. I _am_ sorry I kept this from you, but...honestly I didn't know if it was going to work."

Mark stared at me, his gaze hard, but his hands were trembling. "What did you do?"

I sighed and looked at Amy. She looked back and nodded. I lengthened my fangs as I spoke. "I gave Amy a chance at surviving. I am a vampire. I woke up in my coffin on April fourth. And now, Amy is too. She was poisoned when she accidentally swallowed some of my blood. If I hadn't turned her, she would be dead. _Really_ dead. And I couldn't damn well let that happen if I could do something about it." I nodded to Madison. "I _hoped_ Paladin's amulets would heal her, but they failed. Othala arrived too late. It was this or death, and I let Amy make the choice."

Amy lengthened her fangs, then gave a nervous smile. "Surprise? I'm okay, it's not ideal, but I'm here. I'm safe, and I'm _really_ me. I'm not under Mastery, and I'm not going to hurt anyone if I can help it."

Vicky spoke then, her voice hard. "Mom. Please. Amy's here. She's not dead, and while she's not as she used to be, if you throw her out over this, I'm going too."

Carol slumped down against the wall, a hysterical laugh escaping her. "You say you nearly killed my daughter, then you help her by changing her... This is insane." She took long moments to stare at Amy, her hands clenching and unclenching. Carol looked to me, then Amy, then Vicky, and back again. Finally, she shook herself, and spoke slowly. "I'm not throwing either of you out. It's just...this is too much, too fast. What the hell happened?"

I sighed and began to talk.

* * *

Long explanations. I was getting tired of them. Mark and Carol looked disbelieving as I went through everything about what I knew about my powers. I didn't tell them _everything_ about what happened, but hopefully the broad strokes would be enough. Considering everything though...we still had trouble convincing them. Stupid parahuman powers out there being able to do just about everything I did. If not all at once.

"Vampires." Carol said flatly.

Alucard nodded. "Vampires indeed."

Mark shook his head, looking pale. "You're sure it's not some...odd parahuman package?"

I shrugged to myself. "Call it what you want. The important point now, though, is that _Amy_ is one now."

Carol looked at Amy, swallowing. She looked to be at a loss. The earlier anger and worry looked to have been drained away. Now it was just...guilt, stress, pain.

Dragon's voice filled the room from her place at the doorframe. Apparently she wasn't _quite_ able to get into the room with the size of her metallic body. At least, not with the rest of us in it. "It's true. I'm not seeing any body heat from Amy, just the ambient heat of the room. Just the same with Scarlet and Alucard."

I sighed and rubbed my face. "Just Taylor is fine here, Dragon. I'm not going to hide behind a facade with the Dallons. They deserve better."

Carol looked at me and nodded slowly. "This is _still_ insane."

Alucard smiled slightly. "The sanity of the matter is irrelevant, I am afraid. These things are true, regardless."

Meridia cleared her throat by the door. "I apologize if I'm intruding. But dinner among the Castle's servants is about to commence. If it would please My Lady, we could provide a meal for our guests in the dining hall?"

I blinked. I had a dining hall? I gave Meridia a nod. "That's...probably a good idea."

* * *

Apparently, I have a dining hall. It was a _fantastically_ large room, the floors covered in polished wood, the walls made of black marble. The main table large enough to handle fifty guests. I noticed a lot of portraits up on the walls, showing many different and varied figures. There didn't seem to be much of a commonality to them at first, as only a few of them looked vaguely human.

I only realized the connection when I saw my own portrait at the end, in my current, demonic shape. That meant the others had to be the previous Lords of Darkness, if my guess was right. I took a moment to look at the portrait next to mine. A pale man, wearing an all-black outfit, embroidered in gold and his hair a snowy-white.

Dracul. It was weird to see his face. I'd gotten used to the idea that he was just some nebulous, ghostly presence and always had been.

I sat at the head of the table, musing a bit to myself. To my right sat Amy, Alucard, Dragon and Madison. Though Dragon wasn't sitting on a chair as much as just resting by the table. On my left was Vicky, Carol, and Mark. Death stood by the entrance, looking stoic.

Meridia nearly bounced on her feet as she set down a goblet filled with blood in front of me, before she took a plate from the kitchen and took a seat for herself. Around us hovered quite a number of succubi, dressed in serving outfits (and somehow making them look sexy _despite_ the uniforms themselves being frumpy.) They ran back and forth from the kitchens, giggling laughter managing to reach us. Apparently, succubi made _excellent_ cooks and assistants. I guess it made sense if you were a bit loose with your definition of 'lust.'

Though the Head Cook was...odd. Maybe not by the Castle's standards, but certainly by mine before this whole thing started.

Carol looked at her plate, pushing a bit of the food around. "Are you sure this is safe?"

Meridia bowed her head to Carol. "It has been a long time since we've had mortal guests here, Lady Dallon, but we have not forgotten how to cater." She smiled at Vicky. "Lady Victoria has been quite helpful with certain suggestions, although we do not have the equipment for certain things just yet."

Vicky sighed with exasperation, gently patting her mother's shoulder. "It's fine. I've been eating here all week. They're good!"

Mark hesitantly cut a side of the beef, then tried it. He blinked and nodded. "Damn."

Carol looked back and forth between me and Amy, conflicting emotions warring away in her eyes. Suspicion chiefly among them. From the look of things, I wasn't _quite_ as bad as she thought. Finally, she took a sample of her own food, blinked, and nodded. Meridia finally sat down next to Dragon, giving the steel avatar a nod of respect.

There was a slight whirring sound, a cloud of black smoke forming and dissipating in an instant, leaving a three foot tall fat little dwarf. His head was huge, round, his eyes were black, and he seemed to be perpetually smiling.

"Is the meal to everyone's satisfaction?" He chirped, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Alucard raised his goblet. "Thank you, Chupacabras. Things are well."

"Excellent!" He beamed, then bowed to me. "It is good to have such a fair and merciful Lady upon the throne, your Excellency. Can we provide anything?"

I looked around at the table. As heads were shaken by all, I gave him a nod. "I think we're good here for now, thank you."

"I live to serve, Great Dragon!" He chirped. In a puff of smoke, he vanished.

Carol spoke slowly, her face troubled. "Your servants are...strange."

I made a helpless shrug. "I inherited the position, it seems. But they're used to a much more tyrannical leader. I think they're trying to get used to me being...well, nice."

Mark tilted his head, definite concern on his face. "Why lead them at all? Why not let them do what they want?"

Alucard barked out a laugh. "That would be _very_ unwise, Lord Dallon. The creatures of this castle are formed from emotions and passions, given form and substance by the Shadow Plane. They are born and _exist_ in a different way than mortals are born. While one _can_ become a demon, most demons were never human. They have the light of reason and knowledge within them." He nodded to Dragon, then Meridia. The succubus didn't seem to be offended, in the middle of a bite from her own meal.

Alucard continued. "But their balance is different than that of mortals. It is the same for vampires, and anything else here, in truth. There are quite a few denizens of this castle that could get along just fine in mortal society, but there are creatures of rage and hatred here as well. _They_ must be kept in check. Unlimited freedom for them leads to _very_ bad ends."

I nodded. "I am intending to give some freedom here, but a complicating factor is that not everything here's all that intelligent." I gestured toward Alucard. "When we first met, he was fighting one of the creatures here, and it wouldn't stand down when I warned it. I'm not going to give free reign to things that are going to eat people or set them on fire. And I'm not going to just kill them all, either."

Dragon spoke then, curiosity in her tone. "How flexible is this place? I'm having trouble mapping it. It's like I'm getting shifting corridors through my infrasonic pings."

I shook my head. "You kinda are. The Castle's...weird. It reshapes itself to its own wants and needs. I can ask it to do things, and it's rather helpful."

Meridia smiled, speaking with amusement. "Castlevania likes to play pranks, sometimes. She can be the most hospitable castle in the world or a gauntlet of death traps and monstrous beings. However, she is always helpful to her citizens. Of which Amy is now one."

Carol and Mark shared an uncertain glance. Mark spoke first. "So what does that mean for my daughter?"

Carol opened her mouth, then closed it and nodded.

I shrugged, looking to Amy. "That's up to her." Meridia moved to talk, but I gave the succubus a glare. "I'm not going to force anybody to do anything. The trouble is that we don't know a lot of things about how strong Amy is, her weaknesses... I don't like the sun much, but I'm strong enough that it's just an irritation." I gave a nod to Alucard.

He picked up the cue. "Whereas I needed to spend two centuries pushing my powers to protect me from the sun. Even now, it is unpleasant for me to spend long periods in, and should I linger too long, it would end me. When I first arose, it was deadly to me. I do not believe it would be of any help to anyone if she were to be exposed to the light and burn away."

Carol looked at me, taking a deep breath before she spoke with an icy tone. "Can you fix this? I won't let this stand as it is. You've hurt us badly and I won't just let you run roughshod over my daughters."

Amy slammed her hand on the table. "Why don't you talk to me for once!?" Her blue eyes flared before she took a deep breath, visibly steeling herself as she looked at Carol. "This is done, Mom. It can't be changed or turned back. Taylor didn't want to hurt me, just as I didn't want to hurt her. I took in some of her blood when I accidentally forced her to change into how she is now. I tried to help her, and I put her through more pain than _anything_ ever had before. _All_ of this has been an accident. She _saved my life._ If you're going to treat her like a villain, then just _say so_."

Carol's expression hardened, but she took a deep, shuddering breath. Finally, she spoke quietly. "Is there somewhere I can go to think?"

Death spoke from his place by the door. "I will provide a guest room for you and your husband."

Carol got up and went with Death. The rest of us ate and drank in silence, aside from Dragon, who simply seemed pensive.

* * *

I sat with Amy in my study (I have a study!), giving her a slight smile. "It's good to see you're up and about. How are you feeling?"

She smiled in return, rubbing her hands together. "Well. This is awkward. I feel...odd. Everything's intense. Good and bad. A drink of blood is..."

I smiled at that. "Yeah. Way better than anything from before. Better than anything has any right to be."

Amy nodded, looking embarrassed. "Yeah. Alucard's been showing me some things. My power feels...different, too." She narrowed her eyes in concentration, and her features reshaped themselves. It was disturbing to look at, but after a few moments, an exact duplicate of Vicky was sitting across from me.

I looked her over with interest, tilting my head. "Wow. How far does that go?"

Amy-Vicky shrugged, her voice still sounding like Amy's. "Skin deep. I can't replicate powers, apparently, but I can look like anyone I have a good memory of." She blushed a bit. "Vicky's easy, because...well, you know."

I nodded. "Yeah." The discussion on the beach, when I first gained this demonic shape. _That_ was an awkward topic. I decided to ask gently. "Has...that changed?"

Amy-Vicky frowned, shaking her head. "No. I don't feel her aura anymore, which is...blissful. But...yeah. It's...really, really difficult sometimes. Especially since things seem all amplified." She bit her lip as she looked at me. "Has it been that way for you?"

I shrugged. "I think so? When I first woke up, I felt a bit unstable. Hyper, then depressed, on top of the world one moment and crashing into despair at the next. It hasn't really died down, there, I'm just a bit more used to it." I frowned a little. "Well, that, and the use of some of my powers helps shift my emotional focus a bit. The sword's useful for helping me think clearly. If, um, ruthlessly."

Amy nodded, smiling a little shyly. It was weird to see that on Vicky's face. It seemed off. Still, _that_ was a neat ability.

I grinned as a thought occurred to me. "Want to see something cool?"

Amy nodded, a hint of a smile on her lips.

I concentrated on my shape, thinking _disguise_ all the while, and my body responded. After a moment, I could feel myself painlessly shifting, my wings folding up and shrinking into my back. In a few moments, I was back to being plain Taylor again.

Amy watched the change with fascination. "Wow." She breathed. "Back to normal, huh? What was keeping you stuck?"

I shrugged. "State of mind, really. I guess we're supposed to be predators in one way, and using an ordinary human shape's a way of camouflaging. Helps that I'm a _lot_ stronger, now. I figured out how to use my powers at their fullest. Won't be as _easy_ going forward, but I'm able to."

Amy tilted her head. "Strongest power?"

I flushed a bit. "Uh...yeah. Turns out, I'm kinda famous for helping kill the Simurgh. As a big red dragon."

Amy blinked. "I heard the killing part, but the _dragon_ part? Can you show me?"

I grinned. "Maybe in a bit. I'd kinda wreck the room if I changed here. And the hallway."

She giggled. "Not sure the castle would like that."

"Yep. I might be the ruler here, but I'm not going to mess the place up if I can help it."

The door knocked. I called out. "Come on in."

It swung open, and Vicky came in with a smile. "I have _got_ to show you something, Red, I..." She stopped and blinked on seeing Amy, still wearing Vicky's shape. And blinked again. Finally, she sighed and looked at me. "Red, should I know something, here? Cause if you've got the hots for me, it's fine, but dressing my sister up like me is kinda creepy. And when did you get to be...well, you again?"

Amy _rapidly_ shifted back to her normal self. "Vicky!"

Huh. Vampires _can_ blush after all, at least if the heat in my face and the red in Amy's was any indication.


	46. Interlude: Carol, Amy

A/N: I know Carol's been...hard. She has reasons, but the behaviour isn't exactly flattering to look at from the outside. So here it is on the _inside.  
_  
...Wow. Worm's got a lotta damaged people here.

* * *

Carol sat in a rather comfortable chair, looking out the window.

Below was a rather large courtyard, where she could see those red golems standing at attention. Before them and around them swarmed creatures, and while it was difficult to see exactly what they were from up here, it was plain that they weren't exactly human. Three foot tall green creatures scampered about, cleaning and polishing the red metal until it gleamed in the moonlight. Other, twelve foot tall gray beasts worked on fixing combat damage on other golems, melting steel blocks in their hands and slapping it onto the damaged parts, then molding the molten metal as if it were clay.

It was interesting to watch in its own way, but one thought kept rising in the back of her head.

 _Marquis would have done_ _ **anything**_ _to rule here._

Everything about Taylor was pushing those memories to the fore. Marquis had been such a huge part of her life that it was difficult to set aside. It didn't help that Amy had come from that troubled time.

It wasn't that Marquis was worse than any of the other groups. It was that his veneer of civility, having rules and respectability, that made him dangerous in a way that Allfather hadn't been. Sure, if you joined Marquis, you were a criminal. But you were also romanticised in a way that the Empire Eighty-Eight could only yearn for. Most people in the Bay feared the Empire, but few _respected_ them.

Marquis was both feared _and_ respected. It enabled him to get away with things that would have brought down the hammer from elsewhere.

When she'd first met Taylor, it was brief, and fine. Just an ordinary, shy-looking girl coming along while Victoria and Amy went to have a night out. Carol had been glad to see Victoria expanding her circle of friends, and while she'd always had some trouble giving Amy any room, Carol had forced herself to take a step back.

" _Mom, enough! I'm bulletproof now! Nobody is going to hurt me, so just give me some space! Give_ _ **us**_ _some space. Can't you see how stifling it is here?"_

 _Carol squeezed the dinner plate in her hands hard. "All right. I don't_ _ **like**_ _it, but all right. But until you've got a place, Amy's not leaving. She's too important. Too many people would want to kidnap her for her power. Do you have any idea how much damage someone like Lung could do if he had the world's greatest healer on his side?"_

It had been a lie, but not just one to her daughter. But also one to herself.

 _Small fists hammered at Carol's leg. "Don't do it! Don't take my daddy away! He's not a bad man, he's not! You're lying!"_

" _Amelia, stop." Marquis spoke quietly, in a tone Carol had never expected to hear from the man. His voice was filled with love and gentleness. "They will take care of you. I can't take care of you anymore. I am sorry, my treasure."_

 _Amelia ran to her wounded father, hugging him desperately. Her eyes pierced Carol's heart. "Please, don't hurt my daddy anymore, please!"_

 _Sarah's hand gently squeezed Carol's shoulder. "We can't leave her alone. If she goes into the foster system, Allfather or the Teeth are going to find her fast."_

 _Carol looked at Sarah, gritting her teeth. "Can you take care of her, then?"_

 _Sarah shook her head. "I've already got two kids, Brandish. Things are tight as they are. I haven't got the room or energy for her. Things will be okay. You'll grow to love her."_

 _Marquis' voice spoke then. "Please. I'll let you take me in, I won't fight, just please take care of my daughter. She's an innocent in all of this."_

 _Mark extinguished the sphere of light in his hand and looked to Carol._

 _Slowly, Carol nodded. She already knew she would regret it._

Every time Carol had looked at Amy, she hadn't seen _her_ daughter. She saw _Marquis'_ daughter. And when she had suddenly, impossibly, taken ill, all Carol could think about was how badly she'd treated the girl over the years. Overwhelmed or not, Sarah would have been a better parent for Amelia Lavere. Even Victoria, headstrong and full of energy, her little princess, knew it. When things had gotten better for Sarah, Carol had been so _tempted_ to just drop Amy onto the Pelhams.

But it was Vicky who kept Carol from giving in to that impulse.

" _Get out! I hate you I hate you!" Amelia yelled, stomping her feet._

 _Carol clenched her fists. "I'm not asking you to like this, Amy. But I won't have you running away! Your father is gone. That house is empty, even if you got there! We're here to help you. But you can't just sneak out at night like this, it's dangerous!" Four months and all she could see was_ _ **him**_ _. It wasn't Amy's fault, she knew that intellectually, but the girl had proven crafty and sneaky all the same. Always trying to find a way to escape and get back to her father._

 _That Marquis was now in the Birdcage wasn't anything the little girl wanted to hear. She didn't understand. How could she?_

 _Carol looked down as someone poked her in the knee. Vicky stood there in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes. She felt her heart melting as Vicky spoke sleepily. "Why are you mad at Ames, Mom?"_

" _I'm not." Carol said. And she wasn't. She was mad at_ _ **Marquis**_ _for putting her into this position. She couldn't trust his daughter to do what she asked. She couldn't even trust Vicky to do what she asked, but Amelia was twenty times worse._

 _Vicky frowned on her little face, barged into Amelia's room and hugged her tight. Amelia stiffened, then started crying. "Wanna go home."_

 _Vicky hugged Amelia tighter. "I wanna help you make this a home. I'll be your bestest sister ever. I'll be there for you forever."_

 _The brown-haired girl just sobbed into Vicky's shoulder. Carol unclenched her hands and turned away. She wasn't any help here._

Carol never had really opened up. She couldn't. Sarah might have been able to recover from the _moment_ of betrayal, but Carol couldn't. During those two weeks of captivity, held hostage by those men, she'd tricked herself into feeling safe with her captors. The moment they came in to kill her and her sister...that turned everything on its head. She married Mark because she loved him, but she loved him because he was _safe._ He cared about Carol, and Victoria, and even Amy...but most of the time he was like a dormant volcano. The way he'd been acting over the last week was because of the changed routine of being out of the house made it easier to take his pills.

A part of Carol didn't like that. A small, selfish, ugly part she wasn't proud of. Her active husband wasn't one she knew how to predict. She wanted him happy, but that meant she couldn't _control_ what was going to happen.

She hated _that_ above all. Lack of control. It made her feel like she was in that little room again, trapped with her sister.

Victoria was safe because she was born of Carol. While she was strong and independent, Carol had been sure Vicky wouldn't ever betray her.

And then Taylor showed up and it felt like she had. It was the _second_ time that pushed all of her buttons. Seeing her all red, white-haired, beautiful and inhuman. Refinement and power in one package. And Victoria had sided with the _stranger_ regarding her sister over Carol. Taylor had seemed to be this beautiful monster. It put Carol right back to the feud with the crimelord, when she'd just been facing a teenager with uncooperative powers.

Powers that Amy had just been trying to _help_ with. A girl that Vicky was good friends with.

Amy had used her powers to heal, and only heal. But in the back of her head, Carol was _terrified_ of the possibility that Amy could do more. She _hated_ the idea of waking up Amy one morning and finding the girl covered in bone armor, like her father's. Seeing seeming confirmation of that right in front of her rattled her.

Taylor seemed _so_ much like Marquis. Not the shape itself, but the representation. Marquis used his power to make armor and weaponry out of bone, in a strange way it had been beautiful and horrific to watch. The red-skinned woman would have been something _**he**_ would have marvelled at. Everything else, though, stemmed from one thing.

Carol had treated everyone badly, entirely for reasons beyond their power. It wasn't Amy's fault that Marquis was her father, just as it wasn't Taylor's fault that her powers messed with her body. It was Carol's fault that she had never been able to open her house and make it a home for Amy, as it should have been. That guilt easily turned to anger, and Carol had never been very good at handling her anger. Refining it, sure. Aiming it at a deserving target, definitely. It was one of the reasons she was a good lawyer. Lacking a deserving target and absent a plan of attack, though, and she tended to lash out.

Was she still angry? Certainly. She felt she deserved to know what had really happened with Amy. But knowing what she did now...she could see why Taylor, Vicky, and the pale man kept it from her.

There was also one other truth that she had to confront. If it had been _Victoria_ dying in the hospital, and the Endbringer sirens had sounded as they did...Carol wouldn't have left. _Mark_ didn't want to go, but he followed her, because that's what he was used to. Even when he was active, _awake_ with his medication, he followed. That was one of the reasons she married him.

She'd only started thinking of Amy as her daughter _after_ it was far too late for it to matter. _After_ Carol had believed she was gone forever. And that forced her to confront the last bit of ugliness about the whole thing she could see.

Carol had failed _both_ her daughters so badly she didn't deserve to be their mother. Victoria had been a thousand times a better sister than Carol had been a mother to either girl.

She looked down at her hands.

The voice of the...servant? Butler? Broke into her thoughts as he spoke by the door. "I won't pretend to know just what you're thinking about, my dear. But I _can_ see it is bothering you, greatly."

Carol turned, her melancholy turning to anger, then fading as she took a moment to breathe. "Just how terrible a person I am, apparently."

There was a faint, but sympathetic smile on his face. "Believe me, my dear, I have seen many, many terrible people. You are not. Harmed, perhaps, flawed, indeed, but that is not something to be ashamed of. I have never seen any person without any flaws, and I have seen a great many people indeed."

Carol stared at him for a moment. "Who _are_ you, anyway?"

He simply smiled. "I am the end of all things, my dear. It grants me a certain perspective on the matter."

Carol licked her lips and began to talk.

* * *

Taylor stood in the middle of the courtyard, shifting a bit nervously. Amy smiled, rubbing her hands together.

Mark looked a bit nervous. "You sure this is a good idea? We _can_ wait before you demonstrate, and all that."

Vicky hovered at Amy's side. Even now, without feeling the aura from her sister, Amy couldn't help but feel attracted. It was different, in some ways, but the desire was strong, stronger than it had been before. The only bit of reassurance was that the desire for _others_ was there, too.

She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to appreciate people other than Vicky. It was nice to be able to dream of other people. Even if a disturbing number of those had been of the succubi servants around. Though she _also_ had a rather intense dream of Miss Militia, so...

She flushed as she caught Vicky looking at her, the blonde appearing amused. "You're off in la-la land again, Ames."

Amy shook her head, trying to not show too much embarrassment. "Little distracted, Vicky. Sorry."

Dragon tilted her head. "So...everyone ready? I was a little distracted when you did this before."

Mark shook his head. "It _was_ rather impressive. Scared the hell out of me, though."

Taylor blushed a bit. "Sorry. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Vicky let out a whistle. "Let's see the red dragon! I haven't had net access for a week, let me see!"

Taylor closed her eyes, a black and red corona springing into existence around her. It rapidly expanded, then fell apart.

And now, taking up a great deal of the courtyard, was a thirty-foot tall dragon. Taylor was red like blood, and Amy's newly vampiric eyes couldn't help but appreciate the color. The scales tapered into spines, the points of them turning nearly black. The wings were _massive_ , the membranes glowing a deep red, contrasting with the black bone structure. She was immense, she was terrifying...she was _majestic._

Dragon stepped forward, examining Taylor's form closely. Vicky floated upwards, fascination on her face.

Amy was frozen for a moment, but then she stepped forward and touched a single, outstretched paw, running her fingers over the scales.

Her power felt out Taylor's shape, though imperfectly. Before her change, she got a comprehensive, fully detailed and perfect understanding of someone's biology. Taylor had been odd, but understandable.

Now? It was like trying to examine a painting through fogged glass. You could see there was something there, but you had to put in time and effort to make out what the shapes were, what it meant. For a moment, it worried her, so she narrowed her focus. It took a little time, and the details were a bit hard to grasp.

 _See the scales, just the scales right under my hand._

Understanding grew, and Amy gasped. This stuff was _extraordinary._ Harder than diamond, lighter than aluminium, and flexible and resilient. Ideas swirled in her head.

Amy looked up. The dragon's expression seemed... _amused._ She was _smiling!_ How the _fuck_ can a dragon smile, anyway? But somehow, Taylor was doing it. Those slitted, crimson eyes just _radiated_ sheer, complete amusement.

"Damn Red!" Vicky exclaimed. "You kicked Ziz's ass like _this?_ I am so damn sorry I missed seeing it."

Then Dragon took a few steps away, sounding excited. _"_ So _that's_ how you do it! It's so simple!"

Dragon began glowing with a blue-white radiance, which Amy's eyes found...painful.

And a moment later, there stood a plain-looking young woman. Unfortunately, she was also naked.

Amy gulped, averting her eyes.

Dragon took a moment, looked down, and sighed. "I suppose I should have tried this out in private." She sounded embarrassed.

Taylor covered her eyes with a paw. Mark took off his jacket and handed it to Dragon.

And Vicky ducked behind Taylor's huge form. "I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything!" It only took a second for Amy to decide on the same course, both sister's faces blushing bright red.

Vicky called out. "Meridia! We need a robe, like, _now!"_


	47. Revelation 5-4

I sat across from Dragon, my eyes narrowed.

She looked back at me, her newly-human face looking smug. "I told you you were doomed." She shifted a little in her simple robes. Somehow, she'd managed to find something in Meridia's wardrobe that wasn't scandalous. Just...showing a lot of cleavage. Why was everybody bigger than me unless I cheated?

I flushed a bit, hoping she hadn't noticed (though I know she did.) I looked down at the board. Moved a pawn forward.

Dragon promptly took a rook with her bishop, clearing a path for one of her own rooks to get behind my lines.

I bit my lip, tapping my fingers on the table. "So, what's different for you now, anyway?" I moved another pawn to block the opening.

She hummed softly in thought, moving a knight around to shore up her defense. "Well, there's a myriad number of sensations that are real annoying. I couldn't _smell_ anything the way you do, before. I could tell what was in the air, but it was just data, no emotions attached to it. Same thing with sensations. It's...very different. I'm used to being able to break everything down into numbers."

I moved a bishop forward, taking a pawn. "Not sure I can imagine the difference. Still, I bet it's something to explore."

Dragon promptly took the offending bishop with a rook. "A bit. I'm not sure how people get by, actually. How the heck do you people manage to think clearly with all these _hormones_ in your blood?"

I laughed, moving a pawn. "We don't. I'm a teenager, here, and if anything, my...condition, has made it worse in some ways. You just get used to it after a while. It's not always easy, mind you."

Dragon shook her head, a small smile on her lips as she shifted her king. "I guess. I have to say there's quite a few drawbacks, and I feel a bit different. Impulses, no matter what my shape. I want to _try_ so many things. I feel so _free_ and alive that..." Her smile slowly faded.

I moved my queen into an attack position. "What's wrong?"

Dragon shook her head, moving her bishop and taking a pawn. "Something I need to do. Before the Simurgh attacked, there was a trial going on with a Master, cape name Canary. Her power lets her sing wonderfully, but those who listen are rendered suggestible. She told her abusive ex-boyfriend to go fuck himself. He... mutilated himself while trying to do so. The doctors managed to save him, but the damage was severe."

I winced, brining my knight to help defend my queen. "Yeah. That's...pretty damn bad. So where do you come in?"

Dragon sighed. "I was forced by my programming to send her into the Birdcage on the same truck as Lung and Oni Lee. That was one of the restrictions I was under, forced to obey a lawful authority. It didn't matter if they were tyrannical or abusive in their power, all they had to do was give me an order and I had to obey. Now I'm free of it, but...she's in there. Just because she made a mistake and had powers that reminded everyone else about the Simurgh. And so are six other inmates who were sentenced there and were later found to be innocent of the crimes they were convicted of. I'm not sure how to get them out, at least without risking the others getting free."

I shrugged. "I suppose we could bring them here, but we'll have to be careful about all that." I tapped my chin. "Then again...if you can open a portal like I can, you might be able to get them out on your own. And if you did it right, you could make sure that the release area was nicely contained, too, so anybody who managed to get out that you didn't want them to would be held anyway."

Dragon smiled slightly, moving a piece forward on the board. "That's probably a good idea. When you made your portal, I felt I knew something about how to do it, but it's...instinctual. And considering before I had _no_ instincts at all, that's rather odd. And checkmate, by the way."

Wait, what? Oh. She got her rook past my defense and pinned my king. I shook my finger. "Sneak."

Dragon laughed lightly. "Well _you're_ the one who's playing a game with a hyperintelligent AI. You never had a chance."

I pouted at her. "Maybe not, but you _did_ talk during it."

* * *

I stood on a balcony, overlooking one of the immense chains that connected one section of the castle to another. The thought was in my mind as I mused to myself. Canary, condemned to death in the Birdcage, whether by another prisoner or simple old age, just by a moment of anger. It was understandable, I could sympathise. Especially since I had impulses and sometimes anger issues leftover from Dracul.

I brushed some snow off the stone railing, licking my lip as I thought to myself. I needed to get everything in order. Two more Endbringers to handle and we couldn't afford any distractions. We needed as much firepower as we could get. Speaking of which...now I'm remembering when I was most angry. At least, after waking up in my grave. There were plenty of times before then. Bakuda. And I'd brought her in here as my prisoner and...promptly forgot all about her. Just like what _he_ would have done.

"You called for me, My Lady?" Meridia's voice broke me from my thoughts.

I waved my hand up to my side. The succubus joined me on the balcony. She was wearing an outfit of tight leather, her wings fluttering behind her in the wind. I looked her over, mentally muttering to myself. She could make a potato sack look sexy.

"You recall the woman I brought in, the one I ordered kept alive?"

Meridia bowed her head. "Yes, My Lady. We have her confined. We have been treating her as a pet."

I nodded. "I need to see her. She has expertise we may be able to take advantage of. And...I'd rather not forget something that damned important."

Meridia looked at me with trepidation, then nodded. "Indeed, My Lady? That...may be difficult."

I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

She winced. "Perhaps I'd best show you, My Lady."

* * *

Meridia led me to a dungeon, deep under the castle walls. The air was warm and moist, yet the walls were clean and free of mold. She led me to a cell, with bars over two inches thick. Some of them were visibly thinned and scraped in places.

Inside lay Bakuda, alone in a bare cell. She looked pale, nearly as pale as Alucard was after feeding, and she labored to breathe. She was nude, her body criss-crossed with welt marks, and I could see rough, ugly scars on her forearms and on her legs, just above her ankles. A black collar encircled her neck, with glowing runes on them. She looked up as we approached, and she only whimpered in fear.

I swallowed, hard. "What did you do with her, Meridia?"

The succubus straightened her back. "We set her in the cell, My Lady. You told us not to kill her, and so we have taken steps to ensure she will never die. The collar around her neck prevents her from aging and binds her to the castle grounds. If she ever leaves the castle, she will be forced to return to it. She attempted to kill herself by gathering a few of the materials available, straw, bits of wood, her clothing, her...leavings, some metal from the bars to build a crude explosive device. We caught her and removed the nerves in her forearms. She can no longer hold anything at all."

My hands trembled. "Is that all?" I asked quietly.

Meridia shook her head. "She then attempted to kill herself by ramming her head into the wall, and so we had the tendons in her legs cut. She kept trying things to harm herself, and so we put her under rather...extensive training. And as you've most graciously provided her to us, we succubi have been feeding upon her emotions. Little pleasure there, of course, but there is much else. And since your childe has arisen, we have been using our pet's blood as well as our own for her to feed upon, although not directly. Lady Amy has been fed by goblet, rather than from the vein. She is utterly, completely broken, My Lady. We've resorted to wiping her memories of these things, returning her to the point of being brought in for the first time again, so she gets to break once more. It's the only way to get fresh emotions from her."

My hands squeezed on the bars. They heated under the pressure of my fingers, leaving marks in the formerly-cool metal.

Meridia's voice was faint, hesitant. "You are not pleased, My Lady?"

I growled from deep in my throat and tore the bars off the cell door. Bakuda let out a whimper at the noise, and Meridia flinched away from me, her eyes wide in terror as I turned towards her. I dropped the bars to the ground, feeling my fangs brush against my lower lip. "No, Meridia, I am _not_ pleased at all."

She dropped to her knees and hugged my leg, her wings unfolded behind her. "Please, Lady of the Dragon's Throne, do not kill me! I was following your orders as best I understood them! I do not wish to spend a century in the darkness again, please!"

I pushed her off me, and she fell to the floor with a whimper as she landed on her wing. She scrambled to her knees again, kneeling before me while I breathed heavily, feeling sheer anger flowing through me, my fists clenched. "I will call upon you later, Meridia." I hissed. "Get out of my sight."

She scrambled away, whimpering in fear, and I turned to look at Bakuda. She hadn't moved this entire time. I entered the cell and looked into her eyes.

Before, they were full of hatred. Now, they were full of mindless fear. All she could do was nuzzle against my boot, mewling pathetically.

And all I could do was tremble at the strength of my own self-directed anger.

I am _**such**_ an idiot.

* * *

I went back to the study, looking over the assorted books and items around. Now that I was alone here, I had the chance to really check over what Dracul had acquired. Most of the books themselves were antique, their titles in Latin. As far as I knew, they could all be books on arcane magical lore or the minutiae of Castlevania's little league team.

Yes, I could _recognize_ Latin, but not read it. Annoying, I know. Come to think of it, why did I understand _anything_ the inhabitants of the Castle said? Probably a magic effect or something. So why didn't that extend to books? Because magic was a pain, I guess.

Still, for a place that was centuries out of date, the castle's rooms were luxurious. The chair behind the cherry-wood desk was comfortably padded, and the desk itself was polished and finished to a near mirror-shine. I sat myself down in the chair, leaning back and closing my eyes as I thought to myself.

Bakuda. Ugh. I'd hated her for the things she'd done, but it had been an unreasoning hatred. I hated a faceless thing, more than any actual person, because of how she'd operated. When I'd finally captured her, I wanted her dead, and I hadn't put any thought whatsoever into what I'd sentenced her to when that was denied me. What bothered me most was...that I wasn't that bothered about it. I was angry at myself, sure, but this should warrant more than a 'huh.' I'd sentenced a woman to be raped physically _and_ mentally, and that by itself barely upset me. Bakuda was reduced to a state where she couldn't move, and near-catatonic with the mental torture.

So why wasn't I more bothered by this? What the hell happened to the kid who went to nature camp?

...what? No commentary from Dracul? Jerk.

I opened my eyes, half-expecting for someone to have come in. The room was silent and still, aside from the tiny movements I was making.

I was tempted to blame Dracul for all this. He certainly had influence over me, after all. The fact I could pick up a fair bit of running commentary from the back of my head was proof enough of that. Problem with that, though, was that I'd be essentially saying 'the Devil made me do it' and while maybe that was more true than it would be for most, it would be handing responsibility away.

No, I had to own up to it. I could have simply had Bakuda confined until the bombs were all disabled then either had her killed or handed over to the PRT. No, instead I let a bunch of demons do with her whatever they wanted as long as she stayed alive. That was on me. I couldn't change what had happened.

Not unless there was a time machine around here somewhere...and now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if there was. Castlevania seemed to have one of everything.

Note to self, look for a time machine. But first, I had to take care of Bakuda. And...straighten out all these fucking issues in my head.

I spoke softly. "Death, I need to speak with you and Meridia." I knew Death would be able to hear me, at least. It wouldn't take them too long to arrive.

As I waited for them, I rifled through the desk's contents. Lots of papers written in Latin, or at least something like it. Nothing I could understand. Aaand there's a skull in the bottom drawer. Of course Dracul would use the skull of an enemy for a paperweight. I was going to get rid of _that_ as soon as I could.

Death arrived, and beside him was Meridia. The succubus looked terrified, clasping her hands behind her back as she averted her gaze, looking at the floor.

Death nodded his head. "Something the matter?"

I grimaced. "A few things to work out, Death. Please, stay a moment." Then, I looked at Meridia. "Meridia."

She swallowed hard, then spoke in a quiet voice. "Y-yes, My Lady?"

I sighed. "Look at me, Meridia."

Very slowly, she rose her head and looked me in the eye. She was shaking in fear, nervously wringing her hands.

I smiled slightly and softened my tone. "Meridia, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you over Bakuda. What happened to her was _my_ mistake and my responsibility. However, things _must_ change going forward here. Do you understand?"

Meridia visibly relaxed, relief filling her face. "Yes, My Lady. I will serve you to the best of my ability."

I nodded. "Good. Now, first of all, Bakuda is rendered helpless. Will she die? Eventually, that is?"

Meridia chewed on her lip for a moment, then nodded. "If the collar around her neck were removed, yes, she would begin to age normally."

"Good. Then here are my new orders regarding her. She will be placed in comfortable surroundings and tended to, gently, for the rest of her days. She will not be allowed to leave or escape, because she's caused far too much pain and death for her to have her freedom. But I won't be as bad as she is. She can't walk and she can't use her hands. Let her live and treat her comfortably like that until her body gives out."

Meridia bowed her head. "Understood, My Lady. I believe the West Tower can be converted to a comfortable cell, as your order."

I thought about it, then nodded. "All right. And Meridia, I am _not_ Dracul. I understand you and the other succubi did as he would have wanted to her. Going forward, that changes. I won't have anyone mistreated under my roof again. Captured, maybe, but not tortured. I made my orders in haste and in rage. You won't be punished for following them, but this is the last time. And...I'm not going to kill you for doing what you thought best with the information you had."

She bowed to me, deeply. "You are wise and merciful, My Lady."

I shook my head, a slight smile on my lips. "If I were wise, we wouldn't be in this position right now. Now, you said something about spending a century in the darkness. What did you mean?"

She blinked, then nodded. "Forgive me, My Lady. I believed you knew, for it is common knowledge on the world that was Dracul's. A demon is formed from the emotions of men, but given form, substance, and life from the Shadow Plane. If we are slain, our substance returns to the Shadow Plane to reform. But the experience is never pleasant, and it is a risk to die, regardless. We lose much of our memories, and if the slaying was particularly...brutal, we would not reform at all, our substance becoming part of other demons. Or if our souls were destroyed...that would mean our permanent end, as well."

Death spoke quietly. "It is rare for a demon to die permanently, Taylor. But it has happened often enough that many demons fear my final touch." He chuckled softly. "Save for those too foolish or stupid to grasp what it means to die. Demons formed primarily from anger are usually taken entirely by surprise. Succubi are of desire, which is a bit more...refined."

I nodded, turning my gaze back to Meridia. "You are dismissed, Meridia."

She bowed gratefully, smiling broadly. "Thank you, My Lady." She turned and left.

I looked to Death. "I've had enough, Death. Too much crap coming at me because of things Dracul left behind. I need to know everything. I need to know what the hell happened to him. How did he die? What the hell is all this about? _How much of him is in my head!?_ "

Death froze. He went utterly, completely still before his face filled with sadness. "Alas, he is not dead. But I cannot reach him, although he desires it."

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and counted to ten. Then I spoke. "Tell me everything."

"I cannot."

I opened my eyes and glared at him. Death held up a hand. "Not because I do not wish to. But because there are things you must know that you weren't ready for." He frowned. "Still are not, perhaps. But the situation cannot keep any longer. You must know the truth of the matter, of _everything,_ and only Dracul himself could tell you."

"Great." I spat.

Death shook his head. "That is less of an issue than you think, my dear. You already know where the answers lie."

I frowned. "Where..."

Then I had it. The one place in the castle I couldn't go when I wandered here in my dreams.

"The throne room." I murmured.

Death nodded. "It is time for you to take your throne. And for you to know the true face of your enemy."


	48. Revelation 5-5

A/N: This one'll be fairly long. Not too much help for it, though.

And if anyone wonders? Yeah, I had Dracul's fate in mind from day 1 on writing this fic.

* * *

Snow whirled around me as I looked up the stairs. Red carpeting covered them, somehow staying clean despite the near-constant snow whipping around.

Above me was the highest point of the castle, the largest and grandest tower. At the top of the tower, at the very apex of the castle, lay the throne room. I somehow knew that, beyond actual experience. There was a sense of familiarity, of _belonging_ when I stood here. I also knew that despite my vampirism, it was _bloody cold_ up here. It didn't hurt so much as numb, but it would have been nearly unbearable if I still had been an ordinary teenage girl.

I'd been here before, shortly after I'd claimed the Void Sword. Then, however, I'd been dreaming, and the Castle hadn't been active. Before, though, I hadn't been able to go up the stairs. Something had resisted me. I guessed it was because I had been here in spirit, rather than in the flesh. The rules of this place were a little weird, sometimes.

I set one foot on the staircase and went up. Nothing forced me back, so I made my way up to the grand twin doors. Golden dragons decorated them, roaring at each other. Dracul was _really_ fond of that motif, wasn't he?

Well, couldn't blame him. Being a dragon was _awesome._ I couldn't do it for too long, but it was awesome anyway.

I reached the doors and pushed them open, wincing as the hinges squealed in protest. Dust billowed out of the room, and I carefully stepped inside, brushing myself down as I did so.

There were the remnants of some red carpeting here, torn and faded. Tapestries hung from the walls, nearly gray with dust, but I could see they had been once red, proud, embroidered in gold. It was difficult to tell what they had been, with how faded and rotted they were.

I strode in carefully, closing the door behind me. The room plunged into darkness for a moment before my eyes adjusted. I moved up the middle, right toward the throne, and blinked as four ghostly torches ignited, brightening the room once more.

Memories poured forth from the back of my head.

 _Respect. "You two have come this far, cleaved your way through my servants. You fight well, boy. Worthy of the name 'Belmont.'" He looked at the robed woman at his side, a glowing ball of energy in her hand. "And you, I am especially impressed with. To come this far on only your own knowledge. Well met, sorceress Sypha."_

 _Trevor advanced toward the black throne. "I have come to avenge my parents' murder! I will end the reign of the Dragon forever!"_

 _Amusement. "And how do you plan to do that, hm? With that weapon, perhaps? The legendary Vampire Killer?_ " _Blood flowed onto Dracul's hand as he shaped the Shadow Whip. "That weapon you bear has no power over me, boy. Your god has lied to you. You and your woman will die in vain, as your father did."_

 _Sypha hissed to herself, raising her hands and summoning a ball of fire. "Your reign has come to an end, vampire. We will end you today."_

 _Dracul laughed. "You call upon mere flame as your weapon? I have mastered the fires of Hell itself, girl. You will need far more than that to kill me."_

 _Sypha grinned under her hood. "I'm willing to test that."_

 _Metal clinked as Trevor Belmont loosened the links of the Vampire Killer. "We shall see."_

 _The door creaked open as another entered the throne room. A pale man, all in black, the lining of his coat bright yellow. In his hand was a curved blade, glowing faintly with blood-red energy._

 _Trevor gasped, turning to guard himself from this new vampire. "It cannot be!"_

 _Surprise. Elation. Dracul rose from his throne. "Nice of you to join us, Dracula."_

 _Golden eyes stared into Dracul's. "That is not my name. I am_ _ **not**_ _your son, for my true father died long ago. I am here to face you and end you, as I failed to do before." He rose the blade. "I am Alucard."_

I blinked as I shook my head, rubbing my hands together. That was the clearest memory I'd ever had from the man. My mouth went dry as I tried to pull more to the fore. There was the faintest impressions of things...so much rage and hatred. So much sorrow, loss and grief. But nothing attached to them.

I looked at the throne. It looked to have been carved out of a single block of black marble, padded with what had once been red cushions, now torn up and rotted away with age. Even though the ghostly torches were right nearby, it was wreathed in shadow.

I turned myself around and sat on the throne, carefully relaxing into it.

The air in the throne room subtly changed. Warmth blossomed over my body, chasing away the chill. The castle itself seemed to whisper in my ear.

 _Hail to the Scarlet Dragon._

The room rumbled, the rot and decay reversing themselves before my eyes. Dust billowed away, the tapestries repaired themselves, the red carpeting filled in and refreshed. A pool of darkness formed in the middle of the room. As I moved to rise from the throne, the darkness lunged out and swallowed me.

* * *

I found myself in the void. I was surrounded by stars in every direction. The sun blazed brightly, more so than I'd ever known. It hurt somewhat, but nothing I couldn't withstand. Rocks, no, _asteroids_ tumbled by, and nearby there was an immense, glowing mass. It burned brightly, but the light from it didn't hurt. But...everything was gray.

A harsh, weak voice interrupted my musings. "Welcome to the end of my world, my daughter. Welcome to my damnation."

I turned to see a pale man, emaciated, seemingly ancient. His hair fell to his shoulders in long, limp strings, white with age and sickness. His fingers were tipped by claws, and I could see fangs in his open mouth. He was dressed in the remnants of some ancient battle-armor, most of it torn and ripped away, the cloak on his shoulders ripped and torn to shreds. He was wheezing with every breath, though he didn't need to breathe. The sun was searing away his flesh, only for it to heal in an instant, to be burned again. He was entirely monochrome.

Oh. Gray. Gray Boy. I was inside a Gray Boy loop? Oh god.

He made a small chuckle, turning a bit so he had a few seconds away from the burning light. "You aren't here, girl. I am showing you what I wish you to see, what I see inside my torment, through the tenuous connection between us. This is _my_ damnation, and mine alone."

"Dracul." I spoke softly.

He chuckled, a faint, weak thing. "Indeed. I am The Dragon. Feared by all, known by all. Scourge of the world, Lord of Darkness. Now...I am the last thing existing of my world." Dracul looked over at the bright, nearby mass. "Sometimes, the burning core of my world blocks me from the sun, giving me some relief from my torment. But not enough. I find myself burning again soon enough." He looked amused, even as his flesh seared, then reset. "My prison even keeps in enough air for me to hear myself burning in the light. Another thing to add to my damnation."

I looked around, the sheer emptiness of space around me making me shudder. "How is this possible?"

Dracul let out a small, bitter laugh. "I have had _centuries_ to learn how to use my power. When I separated myself from my divinity, I kept a small connection to it, to steer it." A maniacal grin rose on his lips. "Just enough to guide it to my purposes. I bound Castlevania within the Shadow Plane to keep it safe." He twitched as his searing flesh healed, looking irritated. "To keep my _son_ safe. And as a plan against the enemy, in case I failed to kill it."

I stared at him, feeling my hands twitch. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Dracul snarled as his face was reduced to a fanged skull in the sunlight, then reformed. "It will be _much_ faster to show you, girl. Most of my powers are yours, now, but I still have a few of my own." He extended his hand.

I paused, giving a faint nod as I took it.

Memories flowed.

* * *

 _A pale, blonde beauty. I walked toward her, a gathering of flowers in my hand. Lilacs and dandelions, clenched in my hand. She looked up at me with a smile, surprise and love in her eyes._

" _My lady Lisa." My voice came out, strong but nervous. "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"_

 _She laughed, hugging me tightly as she kissed my lips. "Yes, my Gabriel, my knight. Yes."_

* * *

 _Adrian looked up at me, his eyes filled with tears. "Father, please, don't go!"_

 _I knelt to the floor and hugged him. "I must go, my boy. I do this to protect you and your mother."_

 _Adrian pouted. "But who will protect you?"_

 _I drew a pendant with a stylized bird engraved upon it. "The Phoenix will protect me, my son. And as I fight in his name, he will protect you and your mother too." I took the pendant off from around my neck and laid it around Adrian's. "I will always be with you."_

 _He hugged me, and I squeezed his shoulders. I released him, rising to my feet and turned to Lisa. She smiled with tender care. "We will be here when you return, my love."_

 _I gently kissed her lips. "I will return with all the haste I can muster, my love."_

* * *

 _I felt weary as I returned from the mission. Lycans had been scouring and ravaging the Eastern Steeps, carrying off and converting children into more of their wretched, twisted kind. The Knights of the Phoenix had been sent to deal with the infestation, which was carried out with silver and fire. Still, as strong as we were, it seemed the war would never end. I'd been plagued by nightmares during my return, of my hands stained with blood._

 _I twirled the blessed whip in my hand idly as I returned to my simple home. It was hardly luxurious, but it had my wife and son within, and that was all I needed. I retracted the whip and pushed the door open._

" _Lisa? Adrian? Where are you?"_

 _Something was wrong. The air was filled with a coppery scent. Blood._

 _I turned to the corner, seeing my wife upon the bed. Her eyes were wide open, sightless, and her body was eviscerated. I stood frozen, disbelieving as my world crashed down around me._

 _And on the floor lay a bloodstained pendant, the symbol of the Phoenix._

 _I cried out in rage and grief._

* * *

 _The High Priest Landon was an old man, wizened and frail. He looked up at me as I seethed, sorrow on his face. "I am sorry, Gabriel. A pack of Lycans snuck their way to your home from the mountains. We wiped them out, but all their victims have been cleansed in fire. If your son was among them...I do not know."_

" _They were supposed to be safe!" I spat. "A hundred and thirty leagues behind the lines, and you say the Lycans just snuck upon my home!"_

 _Landon shook his head. "Gabriel, I am sorry. It has happened, and there is no changing it now." He held up his hand as I moved toward him, my fists clenched. "But I have been given a sign, Gabriel. A dream sent by the Phoenix. Reach the Palace of Fate, and there may be a path open to you. A sliver of hope for your son."_

 _I growled deep within my throat. Turning, my silver-lined armor feeling leaden, I retrieved my blessed whip and headed out. If my son still lived, I would find him._

 _The palace was deep within Lycan territory. I did not care if the entire Lycan race was between me and my destination. I could make it through. I didn't care._

* * *

 _I walked to the gates of the Palace of Fate. Blood dripped from the whip on my hip as I entered the ruin._

 _Once it had been a temple to the false god Ariel, the winged prophet. Built from crystal, it had risen into the sky, shining the sun's light back outward, acting as a beacon for entire leagues. Now it was overrun by vines and trees, the forest reclaiming the structure for its own. If I had been in an investigative mood, I would have enjoyed the chance to uncover the truth about the ruin's past. Now? None of it mattered. All I needed was answers, a way to save what little I had left._

 _I made my way into the palace's inner chamber. Werewolves had long since taken over the entire temple, but they barely slowed me down. I could feel my Light Magic amulet slowly healing the wounds I'd taken, soothing my muscles. It gave me enough strength to continue onward when most would have had to stop and rest. The amulets were rare, a precious gift, and only given out to the elite Phoenix Knights. Their power made it possible to face the ever-expanding forces of darkness._

 _I paused as I found a beam of glowing light. There was no source, no place for it to come from. It was bright, but not painful. It solidified before me, resolving into the form of a burning eagle. The Phoenix himself._

 _I went to a knee, averting my gaze. "My Lord, one true god, I am honored."_

" _ **Gabriel, my Knight. I am pleased you have come this far. I give you sad tidings, for your son is dead."**_

 _I felt my heart tear itself apart at that, the final, fragile hope I had crumbling inside of me. The feeling stopped when my god's voice spoke once more._

" _ **But your wife and son need not remain so. I charge you with a mission, Gabriel. Kill the generals of the false god Typhon, claim their powers, end that devil's influence upon my world, and I shall bring them back to your side. I am the one true god, the god of life and light, the eternal god of destruction and rebirth, and I shall reward you above all others. You shall have your family back."**_

 _I swallowed, my despair replaced by horrible, desperate hope. I gripped the handle of my blessed combat whip with renewed strength. "I shall do as you command." With renewed determination, I turned away to face my first task._

 _The legions of the Dark Lord would_ _ **all**_ _fall before me._

* * *

 _My silvery armor was stained with Lycan blood as I reached their maker, the first Lycan, Cornell. The youngest of the Dark Generals._

 _The massive beast-man turned as I approached. He was eight feet tall, built as solidly as any hard fortification, and carried with him a massive hammer. His face was twisted, two tusk-like teeth emerging from his lower lip._

" _So, a Knight of the Phoenix has come to my lair. I'm impressed, warrior." His voice deepened into a snarl. "Far_ _ **less**_ _impressed by you murdering your way through my children."_

" _Children?" I spat. "They be your victims, beast. I have ended their misery, just as I shall end you."_

 _Cornell advanced upon me, raising his hammer. "You know nothing, Knight. I have raised them to a grander existence. Your god denies you truth._ _ **I**_ _once served him, as you do, and I was shown the truth of things myself. He is a worse murderer than_ _ **I**_ _could ever be!" A twisted grin rose on his face. "Allow me to show you the strength_ _ **he**_ _denied me."_

* * *

 _In the end, the Lycan General's strength was not a match for my skill. He fought tactically at first, using his speed and strength to remarkable effect. But with every slash of my whip, he had become more enraged, more out of control. Even turning into a twelve-foot tall abomination of man and wolf did not aid him. Without the strengths of a reasoning mind, I'd easily managed to retrieve his hammer and cracked open his thick skull with it._

 _The body lay on the earth before me, burning as the unholy magic that was part of him was released. I held out my Light Magic amulet, drawing the power in, purifying it. The Lycan's General's power flowed down my body, manifesting themselves as shining greaves on my legs._

 _As I left, I took a moment to shower myself in a nearby waterfall. It was of little help. I got the worst of the werewolf blood off my armor, but it was still stained._

 _I found myself uncaring as I headed for the land of Velnar, where the vampires lie. I would see my wife and son again._

* * *

 _I arrived at Wygol city. It was a metropolis for the era, ruled by the vampires. There were not many here, fifty vampires or so, compared to the thousands of humans within the city itself. The city was in panic as the winged forms of wretched vampires gathered their pick of their human livestock and carried them to the vast cathedral at the center of the city. Within lay the Vampire General, ruler of its twisted race._

 _By the time dawn rose, the Vampire General would be dead._

 _A large vampire stomped in my way. He had not been human to begin with, it was plain. A demon given the gifts and powers of vampirism. He was massive, nine feet tall, immense bat-wings sprouting from his back. He had a screaming child on his shoulder, a little girl. I burned off a portion of my stored Light Magic to sear his flesh and get his attention._

 _He turned with a roar, dropping the child. She ran with fear. The beast snarled at me. "A Knight of the Phoenix? Here? Brave man."_

 _I twirled the shining links of my blessed whip. "This is your last night, demon."_

 _The demonic vampire roared. The air began to thrum with the beating of wings as more vampires began to arrive._

 _I only grinned, feeling the madness rise._

* * *

 _I strode into the cathedral, the stake at the end of my whip dripping with vampire blood._

 _Before this night would end, the legend would spread. Gabriel Belmont, wielding the Vampire Killer. Liberating the city from the scourge of the vampires would be a legend. Once, that would have been a source of pride._

 _Now? I didn't care in the least how the world looked upon me. Hero or monster, all that mattered was the chance to have my family back._

 _I entered the inner sanctum. Stopped as I found a girl, her skin white, her eyes glowing. A vampire child? These beasts were even more twisted than I believed._

" _Have you come to play?"_

 _I blinked. Every bit of my training told me to end her. But I wasn't so far gone it would be easy to murder a child. Even a vampire child. "I seek the Dark General, Lord of the Vampires."_

 _She laughed, a happy, carefree thing. "She doesn't like visitors."_

 _I tilted my head. "She?"_

 _The girl giggled. "I'll show you the way to Mother, if you play."_

 _I grimaced. "I don't have time for this, child."_

 _The vampire girl gestured to the chessboard at the side. "Well, you_ _ **can**_ _fight our way through a few thousand innocent thralls, kept entrapped by Mother's magic, to reach her. Or you can play a game with me and skip all that. I can bring you right to her, warrior."_

 _I fingered my blessed whip. She wasn't lying. No need to, no reason to. The vampires would do just that to help sap my strength. If a simple game would allow me to spare the lives of innocents on my way through, it was worth the time. Even if not, it would give him time enough to recharge my amulet fully. If she attempted anything during the game, I could use it to end her. And would give mean edge in any ambush attempts._

 _And yet, taking the time to play would simply give them more time to rally a really,_ _ **really**_ _large ambush._

" _I've no time." I said softly._

 _She pouted. "She said you would say that. You're no fun. Bah!" She flung the chessboard aside. "Y_ _ **ou're**_ _Gabriel Belmont, the complete bore!"_

 _That put me on guard. "You know me?"_

 _She nodded. "The nice lady said you were coming."_

 _I furrowed my brow. "Nice lady?"_

 _Laura shrugged and pointed to the side, looking annoyed. "_ _ **Her.**_ _"_

 _I turned my head, just enough to look while keeping an eye on the vampire child._

 _A woman, her skin completely white, with dozens of asymmetric wings surrounding her. She wore a golden toga, and her eyes were blank. She hovered above the floor, and she gave me a sad smile._

" _Hello Gabriel. I am the Goddess of Fate, Ariel."_

" _False goddess." I said, faintly. Though I had the same_ _ **feeling**_ _I had when I was before the Phoenix._

 _She shook her head. "Nay. The Walker has misled you. It is his hope that you can end his enemies. Among all his Knights, you are the finest."_

 _I licked my lips. "Say what you will, spirit, I care not. Will you aid me in my goal, or will you stand aside?"_

 _Ariel stared directly into my eyes. "Your son lives, Gabriel." She waved her hand, the air rippling before me. Images formed, the truth being shown to me._

 _Landon, leading a contingent of my fellow Knights into my home. They used metal claws, rather than the standard blades of the Knights. I watched in horror as they butchered my wife and dragged away my son._

 _Ariel spoke softly. "Caelus Solin. He who was doomed to live to only ninety. He whom feared death, and in his triumph over it murdered thousands and stole the greatest fonts of knowledge for his own. He who has destroyed the greatest civilization in the history of the world in his selfishness. He who is now the Phoenix. He sent your brothers to murder your wife, to steal your son away. All to motivate you into murdering Typhon's generals, and merely_ _ **weaken**_ _his longtime foe. He has no means to raise your wife from the dead. None of the gods of this world do. If you succeeded in your quest, he would merely take away the gifts given you and have you ambushed on the road back home. He_ _ **never**_ _shares power. He has even defiled_ _ **my**_ _temple to serve his own ends."_

 _I gripped the handle of the Vampire Killer, sheer rage flowing over me. "I will_ _ **kill them all**_ _for this."_

 _Ariel lifted her hand. "Return now, and he shall murder your son. There is a chance to save him, now. But the cost is high, Gabriel. You must be Solin's equal. You must kill Typhon himself to do so. Take the power of the Lord of Darkness for your own. Become the god of the dark. A_ _ **better**_ _god of the dark. The role the Lord of Darkness_ _ **should**_ _be. You are_ _ **worthy**_ _in merit, Gabriel." She tilted her head. "Solin would not have begun this scheme if he were not desperate. Typhon is about to use the powers of Ifrit and Lotan to devastate the cities of Solin's followers. If they died, he would be vulnerable, and Solin would do unspeakable things to prevent even the possibility of that. Even if you set out now, Typhon would murder your son as much as Solin would."_

 _I breathed heavily, my heart leaden in my chest. "How? How can I slay a god?"_

 _Ariel looked at him sadly. "The same way Solin murdered_ _ **his**_ _predecessor. Typhon builds everything within the Shadow Plane. Forget the Vampire General, Gabriel. Laura will show you the way."_

 _I turned to stare the vampiric child in the eye. She smiled mischievously back._

" _You'd like me more if you actually played the game, you know."_


	49. Revelation 5-6

A/N: Much of this is based on the DLC of Lords of Shadow. THIS is how you do DLC.

* * *

 _And so off I went with my unlikely ally. I felt leaden, dead, even as I held onto the slim hope of rescuing my son from his captors._

 _Landon, a man I had trusted since I was a boy, had betrayed me. My brothers-in-arms had murdered my wife on his order. And then he had the audacity to lie to my face about what had happened to those I loved. Even my god, whom I had served faithfully for my entire life, had lied directly to me for his own ends._

 _If I lived through this, I would see them all pay for this. Unconscionable betrayal over the_ _ **chance**_ _that I would be able to kill the beasts whom had plagued mankind for millennia._

 _God of light or not, I was done with the Phoenix. I would need other sources of power to handle the challenges ahead. Even if I had immense skill, it would not be enough to handle Typhon without any kind of edge. There was only so much of a gap that could be closed by skill. To face the demon god himself would be far, far more difficult than the Lycan General._

" _I know how you're feeling." Laura spoke, looking across at me from her side of the campfire. "Alone, betrayed. You get used to it."_

" _I highly doubt that. Why you?" I muttered._

 _She heard me, easily. A small smile on her face, just a hint of her fangs showing. "Ariel promised me something that I haven't had, Gabriel. Something I've longed for."_

 _I raised an eyebrow._

" _Freedom." Laura spoke. "I am bound to Mother by a geas. She knows where I am, what I do, and she can follow me anywhere. I'm not even allowed to try and kill myself. Lady Ariel is giving me the chance to run, if I help you. Lady Ariel is shielding me from Mother. Should we succeed, you will need to kill her eventually, however."_

 _I shook my head. "Why did you choose to become a vampire?"_

 _Laura looked at me, her face filled with sadness, "I had the choice of joining Mother's family or being another feeding slave. I chose to be the predator rather than the prey. Now? I wish I had chosen the other way."_

 _The campfire crackled. Laura turned toward the east. From our shelter, the child-vampire would be protected from the sun, although it would not be a comfortable place. "It will be three days before we can reach Typhon's temple. From there, we can enter the Shadow Plane."_

 _I closed my eyes and nodded. "Get some rest. We'd best be well-rested for the coming of nightfall."_

* * *

 _It turned out, I didn't need to hunt the Vampire General in the future. She came to us. Waiting for us at the entrance to Typhon's dark temple. Surrounding her in her immense, bat-like form were the twisted forms of ten lesser vampires._

 _Laura was at my side, floating just above the ground. I hoped she would act on my side._

" _Laura." The large vampiress snarled, barely understandable through the twisted maw of her mouth._

" _Carmilla." Laura spoke acidly._

 _Carmilla's wings twitched, and she scraped her claws through the earth. "Show respect to your mother, girl."_

 _Laura tilted her head, anger on her white face. "And I do. You killed her, remember?"_

 _I looked around. There. Nervous vampire at the right. He tried to look me in the eye and failed._

" _Come here!" Carmilla demanded. Laura froze in place, a small whimper of agony escaping her as she resisted the geas upon her soul._

 _I rushed forward, my magic greaves giving me inhuman speed, taking my target by surprise and bringing him to the ground in a powerful kick. Before the massed vampires could react, I'd killed my target with the silver stake at the end of the Vampire Killer._

 _I grinned ferally at their expressions. "Next?"_

 _It quickly descended into chaos, but, as ever, the range of my whip and its blessed nature gave me the advantages I needed to keep them at bay while I whittled them down._

* * *

 _Carmilla lay on the ground before me, bleeding, blinded, and weakened. She gave a feeble swipe in my direction, which I easily dodged. She lunged and grabbed toward me, but I managed to evade, punishing her with each failed attack with lashes from my whip, turning her from feared beast of the dark armies into a pathetic, mewling thing._

 _She tried to charge at me, howling in rage, when an arc of electricity interrupted her, making the monstrous vampire scream in agony. Unlike mundane lightning, it continued coursing its way through Carmilla's body, preventing her from moving._

 _I took the opportunity to drive my stake into the Vampire General's heart. She screamed, thrashed, and howled terribly. I pulled hard on my weapon, and it broke the stake attachment within Carmilla's heart._

 _The oldest vampire in the world thrashed, screamed, and writhed as the electricity kept flowing through her, cooking her flesh. I looked over to see Laura, flinging the lightning from her hands, her face filled with rage as she made her sire suffer, even as the stake within her heart was killing her._

 _Finally, Carmilla died, her body flaking away into ash. I could see her magic flowing away into the air. I did not bother to claim it._

 _Laura collapsed and burst into tears._

 _It took long moments before I could go over to her and wrap her in my embrace. To render myself vulnerable to a vampire, even a child-vampire...it did not come naturally._

* * *

 _We'd entered the temple, a place filled with the scent of death and decay. I could see the remains of bodies lined upon the walls, long since dried out, desiccated, and aged beyond recognition. Even if the Phoenix...Solin, had not been a monster in his own right, Typhon's followers had to be stopped._

 _That I would aim my wrath at Landon and my former brothers in arms afterward was of no consequence. I had to ensure my son would live, first._

 _Within the inner sanctum of the crumbling temple, we found a black portal in the air, swirling._

" _This is it." Laura spoke. "The entrance to the Shadow Plane. The realm of the Lord of Darkness. Lady Ariel says every god has a plane, and they are different than the world. No two are the same. It will be dangerous on the other side, Gabriel."_

 _I nodded. "Danger has not stopped me thus far, Laura. You stay here, I will go in."_

 _Her hand clasped mine. "Wait! You will die if you go inside! Typhon has set the portal within a volcano, the air itself is poison to humans! Only dark creatures can survive there."_

 _I stopped. Closed my eyes. "And I am not one. Then how can I..." The answer struck me. "You are asking me to become a vampire to do this."_

 _Laura looked at me, determination in her eyes. "It is the only way."_

 _The sound of chimes, making beautiful music rose over me. I turned and faced Ariel as she appeared before us. Her voice was melodic as she spoke. "This is the only way to save him, Gabriel. Turn away now and he is doomed." Her eyes were downcast. "Even if you do this, there is no certainty of your success. I can see that you_ _ **may**_ _win, but the affairs of my fellow gods are impossible to predict fully. All I can do is give you the best chance at victory."_

 _I looked to Laura._

 _May Lisa forgive me._

 _I knelt before Laura. She bit into her own wrist and offered it to me. I braced myself, took her wrist, and began to drink._

 _Cold. Coppery. Disgusting. That was what I felt at first...and then, as I drank, the flavor of the blood suddenly changed. It was sweet, strong, powerful. I felt...strange._

 _Then pain wracked my body, and I released her wrist, grasping at my chest. "What...what is happening to me?" I managed to choke out._

 _Laura's voice was sad. "My blood is running through your veins. It is a powerful poison that will soon...kill you. Then you will arise again...but we do not have the_ _ **time**_ _for you to wait to be reborn. You must be as strong as possible for this. There is only one way to fully embrace vampirism_ _ **now.**_ _" She pushed her wrist near me again. "You_ _ **must**_ _keep drinking from me. To the last drop."_

 _I shuddered, feeling my body stiffen as horror flooded my mind. She wanted me to kill her!? "N-no. I won't."_

 _Her eyes looked into mine, and I saw an expression I had never expected to see on a vampire. Misery. "Many lifetimes I have lived, many I have killed. All that power, all_ _ **my**_ _power must be yours." Her voice was filled with a terrible, desperate need. "Release me from this miserable existence. I beg of you, free me!"_

 _I felt my heart twist, even as it stopped beating. I seized her wrist, dug my teeth in, and drank._

 _Laura screamed as I drained her of every last drop of blood. She collapsed into my arms, and I held her tenderly, even as she flaked away into ashes._

 _I wiped my lips, feeling...very strange, indeed. I looked to Ariel, and she bowed her head, singing a low, sad, wordless song. I bowed my head and listened, allowing Laura's funeral dirge to settle its way into my mind._

 _I prepared myself for the task ahead. I wrapped my hand around the handle of the Vampire Killer, and grunted in pain as the blessed handle burned my now-vampiric fingers. I could withstand it, but...it would make this task far, far more difficult. The greaves of my legs burned as well, but it was far more tolerable._

 _Ariel spoke softly, extending her hand. "You will find a new weapon within, Gabriel. I shall ensure your weapon is taken care of."_

 _I gave Ariel a nod of thanks, handed over the whip I had wielded for so long, then turned and entered the Shadow Plane._

* * *

" _ **Fools! Think you I will tolerate this outrage!?"**_ _A voice bellowed, making the entire region I was in shake. The heat here was oppressive, and I could smell nothing at all, despite the hissing and bubbling molten rock some fifty feet away. I knew if I approached closer, even by a little bit, the heat would likely make me burst into flames._

 _Pain wracked my body as Laura's blood flowed through my veins. I didn't have much time before I would fall, sleep, and turn fully into a vampire. I could feel the Light Magic amulet on my chest flaring, burning, and I hastily pulled it off and threw it away. It could prevent infection by vampirism if it were unwillingly taken in, but when embraced as I had...all it could do was kill me._

 _I carefully made my way over the ledges I could find, keenly aware of the danger I was in. A volcano was no place for a mortal or a vampire, and was only slightly less dangerous to the latter than the former. I wouldn't suffocate from the lack of fresh air, but a crumbled ledge here would end me._

 _In the middle of the volcanic caldera was a twenty foot tall figure, head crested by horns and bound by black and red chains. Energy pulsed along those chains, flowing toward the beast. Fire and lava poured from it, drenching the chains that held it in place. And yet, the chains would not move or melt, regardless of how the beast attempted to wrangle them. I tried to move around it, to get to my target, and I doubted this one was Typhon. I highly doubted I would find the Lord of Darkness enchained in his own realm._

" _ **Typhon!"**_ _The beast roared._ _ **"You have earned an eternal enemy this day, trying to bend me to your will!"**_

 _I accidentally disturbed a bit of rubble as I made my way around, searching for an exit, and the beast snarled. Its single, massive glowing eye focused on me. The beast exhaled a burst of flame, thankfully it fell short._ _ **"A mortal, here?"**_

 _Well, it had me in sight at least. "I seek the Dark Lord Typhon!"_

 _It rumbled._ _ **"Ah. You seek my captor. And what do you intend to do with him, hmm? Bow and scrape at his feet?"**_

 _I bared my teeth. "I intend to slay him."_

 _The beast's head reared back in surprise at that. Then it made a laugh that shook the entire volcano around me._ _ **"Ha! How very interesting. To send a mortal to slay a god! Ha!"**_ _The massive eye narrowed as it looked at me._ _ **"Ah...I see. Not simply a mortal, now. I am Ifrit, Lord of Fire, God of the Burning Earth, and I will aid you in this endeavour. I lend you a weapon that will aid you."**_

 _It gestured toward me, and a glob of molten lava formed at my feet, shaping themselves into black, spiked gauntlets. They burned with white-hot fire, and yet they did not injure me. I grinned as I put them on, and bowed graciously. "Thank you, Lord Ifrit."_

 _Ifrit laughed._ _ **"Thank me by killing Typhon, fledgling. Free me and Lotan. If you can."**_

* * *

 _I followed the long red chain that bound Ifrit. If what the bound god said was true, then the chain should lead me directly to my prey._

 _This place was definitely not for humankind. The air was thick with fumes and gases that would have undoubtably killed me if I had still been just a man. But I was no longer human. Rage drove me, hatred guided me, and the only thing that kept me walking was the thought of my son. Everything had been taken from me. If I had to kill a god to get him back, I would. If I had to kill_ _ **all**_ _the gods, I would._

 _The realm was a dark, terrible place. My new nature found it somewhat pleasing. I took my time to find my way to Typhon's chamber, careful to not attract too much attention._

 _Hopefully, Ifrit's favor would give me enough of an advantage. The gauntlets on my hands burned. If I had the chance, I would see if I could keep them. If not, I would find my own solution. I rather liked the feeling of power from having fire at my command._

 _I found the chain's end when I reached an immense stone platform, floating in the middle of a void. And holding the chains was an immense white-armored demon, standing at twenty-five feet tall. Two great curved horns sprouted from his head, and he glowed with black and red energy. Power flowed from him and through the chains, flowing off into the distance. He hadn't noticed me, as he was facing away. This had to be Typhon, Lord of Darkness._

 _He shall look into the eyes of the dragon, and know fear. I am that dragon._

 _I gathered my courage and charged, igniting my gauntlets only as I was about to make contact. Typhon heard me and turned, too late to prevent me from slamming into the back of his leg and shattering the armor. Typhon roared in pain as blackened flesh was exposed to the air, the demon's black blood staining the stone._

 _He summoned an immense ball and chain, slamming the end into the ground and forcing me to retreat for the moment. I clenched my hands, focusing my attention on the battle ahead. Typhon stood on that leg gingerly. Good. Even a demon god could be hurt._

" _A human, here?" Typhon spoke. "Who are you, fool?"_

" _I am your destroyer, Typhon."_

 _He laughed. "You think you can stop me with part of my power binding two lesser gods? Fool."_

" _Mark my words, before I am done with you you shall beg for your miserable life!"_

 _Typhon tilted his head, amusement in his voice. "My power is infinite. I shall rip the flesh from your body, and devour your soul."_

 _I readied myself, the gauntlets on my hands igniting. "Enough talk. Have at you!"_

* * *

 _I panted in exhaustion, the platform stained black. Typhon stood before me, most of his bony armor torn away, gasping for air._

" _You are impressive, warrior. I hadn't expected you to be this strong." He gestured, and the chains leading off into the distance began to dissolve into a cloud of black and red energy. "But you've no chance of beating me, mortal. I am far more than you. You have only delayed me. I shall use fire and water alike to scour your world_ _ **clean**_ _of humanity."_

 _He turned and faced the cloud, extending his hand. His power began to stream back toward him. I clenched my hands and forced the purified power of the greaves on my legs to activate. Their blessed powers began to burn hotter, searing my legs, but they gave me the burst of speed I needed. I charged forward, screaming as I streaked past the surprised demon-god. He tried to turn, to stop me, but his swipe missed. I launched myself into the black cloud._

 _Pain washed over me, but also_ _ **power.**_ _Knowledge flooded into my mind._

 _Typhon's voice echoed. "No no no no no!"_

 _I hit the ground, surrounded by a black and red corona of power. I was aware of Typhon charging toward me, a scream of rage filling the region. The platform shuddered with every footstep the demon took._

 _But with the power I had now, it was trivial to teleport behind him as he attempted to smash me into the ground. I floated in the air, gravity no longer binding me, glowing with power as he turned to regard me._

" _I...I yield to you. Mercy, my liege. Mercy." Typhon spoke._

 _Alas, I had none. It was_ _ **trivial**_ _for me to use the power Laura had given me, enhance it with the power I'd stolen, and lash out. Lightning flowed from my hand and seared Typhon, making him wail, scream, cry, and burn. Eventually, his body fell apart, a small amount of the black and red energy he still had flowing away and joining me._

 _I am the dragon. I am the Lord of Darkness._

 _Some investigation revealed I was entrapped within the Shadow Plane. No matter. I would find my way out. I would find my son._

 _And I would make Solin pay for his betrayal._

* * *

 _It had been simple to let Ifrit and Lotan free of my realm. They were gods themselves, they still had a connection to their own. I spent twenty-five years shaping a section of the Shadow Plane to my liking. Castlevania was born, and I filled her with beings born of the nightmares of humanity. Rage and hatred, lust and desire, pride and vengeance, all given shape, form, and substance. And all eventually did_ _ **my**_ _bidding._

 _And when I finally returned to my world, I brought an entire army with me. Solin would know the rage of Dracul, the Dragon._

 _Five years of my campaign. I hunted down the surviving members of the Knights who butchered Lisa. Five years of hunting for any sign of my son. Landon had hidden him very well, and he had taken the secret to his grave. Old age had stolen his life before I could. Now and again, the Knights of the Phoenix would send warriors after me, to attempt to end my attacks. Some had even used replicas of my own Vampire Killer._

 _Like this one. A warrior in a blue coat, wielding a whip. He'd stomped his way through dozens of demons and managed to overcome the obstacles Castlevania placed in his way. He'd earned the privilege of facing me in my throne room._

" _I am here to free you of your curse." He spoke, gesturing with the whip. "I am here to avenge my friends."_

 _I laughed softly. "So it's personal, is it? I was going to pay a visit to each and every one of your superiors, and what do the cowards do? Send assassins after me." I gestured to the whip in his hand. "Did they tell you that I once used a weapon like that, hm?" I formed the Shadow Whip in my hand. "I was betrayed by your god, boy. And so have you. The sooner I end him, the sooner all beings of our world are better off."_

" _Aside from those you murder." The warrior growled at me. "You are done, Dracul. This is your last night."_

 _I spread my arms, amusement filling me. "You are welcome to try, boy."_

* * *

 _Blood spread from the knight's mouth. His Vampire Killer embedded within his chest, puncturing a lung. His heart was intact, but he would be dead in minutes, regardless. I had to give him credit. He was strong, capable, and more dangerous than I had expected. But it hadn't been enough to save him._

 _He stared at me, laboring to breathe. "I am sorry...I failed."_

 _I smirked. "Failed? You never had a chance. There are none who can face the might of the Dragon. Even your god fears to face me. He knows I will end him."_

 _His eyes were glazing over as death crept over him. "I am sorry...father."_

 _I froze. Father?_

 _ **No.**_

 _A humming song filled the air. Ariel appeared before me, as beautiful as ever. She said nothing, merely held out her hand and showed me images in distorted air. Adrian, stolen away. Adrian, training at the hands of the Knights. Adrian, growing up to be a fine, strong young man._

 _Adrian, dying on the floor of my throne room._

" _ **NO!"**_ _I roared, teleporting to my son's side. I ripped the Vampire Killer from his chest, and ripped open my wrist with my teeth, feeding him my blood. "Live! Please, live, my son! Please..."_

 _Nothing. My son lay still. He couldn't embrace vampirism. I hurriedly tore the Light Magic amulet from his neck, and fed him more of my blood. Desperately hoping, for some slight movement, some slight sign._

 _I turned my gaze upon the Goddess of Fate. "Why!?" I yelled at her, feeling tears flow down my cheeks. "Why allow this!?"_

 _She shook her head. "I sought to avoid this, Dracul. I tried, many a time. But I cannot remove choices from mortals, and I cannot see what you will do. I knew Adrian would fail in his goal this night, but not how or why. He would not turn aside."_

 _I slammed my fist into the floor. The throne room shuddered with the blow. Ariel dissolved into the air._

* * *

 _I closed the lid on the simple tomb. I had held vigil for three days. My son did not arise again, not even as a ghoul. He was gone. Permanently gone._

 _ **Here lies Adrian Belmont**_

 _ **Son of Dracul**_

 ** _Dracula  
_**  
 _I held his Vampire Killer in my hand, feeling the silver of the weapon burning my skin. I paid it no mind._

 _This room had been my throne room. Now it would be my son's tomb. I would build a new throne, a larger tower._

 _And if humanity would continue to serve the god who would send my own son to kill me, I would kill them all. I would ensure I would be the only god remaining. I would remake the world in my own image._

 _For in_ _ **my**_ _world, no father would slay his son. No wife would be stolen from her husband, and no mother would be stolen from her son. If I had to populate the entire world with demons and demons alone, I would._

 _And I would only be satisfied when the so-called Lord of Light lay dead._

 _For I am the Dragon._


	50. Revelation 5-7

_I stared at the being before me. It had taken so very much to accomplish this, so much time and effort, so many sacrificed._

" _I am sorry."_ _The robed figure spoke, its voice echoing in my mind. "_ _I cannot bring them back. That is beyond my power."_

" _You lie!" I roared._

 _The featureless skull under the robe bowed its head. "_ _I do not lie. I have no reason to. You have given me a gift which I had never had before, never could have imagined was possible. I am grateful beyond all measure, and I can never repay this gift. But I can't raise the dead. Your wife and your son are beyond me."_

 _I went utterly still, channeling my anger into the Void. "Then you will serve me until I am satisfied."_

 _Death bowed its head. "_ _I shall."_

* * *

 _I could not help but laugh. My son, arisen after thirty years asleep. A miracle, followed by my defeat. I had_ _ **lost.**_

 _And I was overjoyed._

 _Rising from my grave in the Shadow Plane, I breathed as Castlevania reformed itself around me. When I was strong enough, I would return her to the Material Plane. I would still hunt the twisted religion of Solin. I would see him manifested in a physical form, lying dead before me._

 _But in the meantime, I would face my descendants. I would enjoy this little game. After all, I was immortal. I could stand the diversion for an eternity. Eventually, I would win._

* * *

 _After many cycles, many battles with Belmonts, something changed._

 _The end of the world began not with a bang, but with a song. A dream of music that every mortal heard. I heard nothing, and neither did any of my demons. But my Lycans did, my mortal followers did, and they stood entranced as the music was cast around the world._

 _The next time a Belmont came, he was aided by a sorceress. A woman who could fly and create bursts of fire. An ideal weapon against lesser vampires._

 _A small annoyance to me. Richter Belmont fell at my hand, as a few of his ancestors had. I was disappointed, honestly. Richter had been strong, stronger than any before, but he had been overconfident in his and his friend's power, and failed miserably._

 _I only realized how much things had changed when Solin had sent an entire army after me, headed by a few mortals with new, inherent magics. Magics I could not steal or twist to my own purposes. A paladin, flying unaided, wielding blades made of shimmering light._

" _God is with me, monster. Mankind has suffered your plague long enough." He had spoken._

 _I had grinned. "That will be your ruin."_

 _A fierce battle took place, and he fell. Just like the rest. Then I had taken the form of the dragon to decimate his followers. They massed attacks, some attacking me with ice and fire, others with light and even time itself had been weaponized against me. They very nearly had forced me back to my normal shape. Only my experience had given me the edge. It had been a very, very long time since I had been matched in sheer power. If they had been more coordinated, they might have even won._

 _But despite what they had said, despite what I could tell they_ _ **believed**_ _, they did not use Solin's power. This was something else._

 _I stood in the midst of the slain army, Castlevania standing high, proud, and while scorched and damaged, she would repair and heal. It would take a great deal more than this to truly destroy the castle._

 _I turned as I felt a familiar presence. Alucard. I smiled as he faced me._

" _Hello, father." He spoke, his golden eyes piercing._

" _My son. It has been a long time."_

 _Alucard's face was hard, gesturing to the field of corpses. "I had hoped we would not see each other again. But things are dire, and though I loathe what you have done, you must know."_

 _I laughed. "And so you come to me?"_

 _His next words brought me up short. "The Eastern Lands are dead, father."_

 _I stared at him. "How are they dead? They had people beyond counting." I had not yet sent my demons their way, for they had little use for Solin's religion, and they would have been more trouble than they were worth._

 _Alucard held the blade at his side closely. "The Islands of Fortune have been swallowed by the sea. The lands of the Jade Empire have been reshaped, twisted, and torn, as if Gaia herself has gone mad. There are none alive there, now. I have sent word out, elsewhere. I even searched Pan's sanctuary. He is missing. Something is killing_ _ **everything**_ _, father."_

 _I frowned. "And so you come to me, to seek my aid against this...invisible threat?"_

 _Alucard nodded. "I know of none with more power than you, father. Solin hides, as always." He lifted his hand. "You promised me once that you would always be there to protect me. Who fought to protect all that is precious."_

 _I stilled. "That was a very long time ago. A different man said that."_

 _Alucard looked me in the eye. "Yes. But I believe a part of him lives, still."_

 _I turned away, looking up at the night sky. "That man was lied to, Alucard. He was destroyed by the machinations of betrayers and a frightened, tiny, pathetic god. Landon, may the devils feast on his soul, murdered your mother. He did so because Solin wanted_ _ **me**_ _to charge his foes with nothing holding me back. A foolish plan, and if I must burn the world to make him suffer for it, I shall."_

 _Alucard shook his head. "Let things continue as they are, and he shall, but so shall everything else! What kind of profit will it be if you get your vengeance and there is nothing left alive? What would mother say to that?"_

 _I closed my eyes, smelling the burnt and twisted corpses around me. I had not thought of Lisa in decades, the memory was far too painful. I spoke softly. "If I have the chance, I will destroy Solin. Until that moment, I shall be...restrained."_

 _Alucard nodded. "That is all I can ask for."_

* * *

 _Seven years. That was all it had taken. Wars spread, and people everywhere were gaining unique, singular magics to themselves. My armies, powerful as they were, were being whittled down._ _I fought again and again, took territory, did what I could to revitalize my armies. But the world was dying in the battles. Food failed to grow, rivers were turning black, and though people lived still, they were dying even without my assistance in their slide toward extinction._

 _Then I discovered what happened to the other gods._

 _Immense chains manifested from the sky, wrapping themselves around Castlevania. I hadn't been prepared, and the eldritch energies started to flow though. I could feel their power, great and immense, far, far larger than my own. But I could not help but laugh._

 _It was the same technique Typhon had used to bind Ifrit and Lotan. Using energy to grasp, bind, and slowly reshape the mind of its bound prey. I'd interrupted the binding on the pair, but I knew how to do it. I never had, because to control a god in that manner would have taken up a vast majority of my power. And I had other methods to work with. If I wanted someone dead, I would do it myself._

 _Where this being had failed was in using this binding, it was made of the same type of power as my own. I closed my eyes and concentrated._

 _The doors to my throne room burst open, and Alucard swept in. "Father! What is happening?"_

 _I smirked. "We are under attack. Our foe reveals himself to me, in an attempt to bind me as he did the others. He has made a misstep, but one I can't count on for him to repeat." I could feel the chains shifting, attempting to better grasp the substance of Castlevania, but failing. The chains would never hold, simply because their nature was wrong. "He is attempting to use Shadow Magic to bind Castlevania, entrap it here on the Material." I raised my hand and concentrated._

 _It was fairly simple to shift the castle back into the Shadow Plane, easily slipping through the chains the enemy had made. Had he thought to use the power of a different type, he would have succeeded in the binding. As it was, the chains simply could not have a firm grip on a power of the same type, just as two lodestones would repel each other when they faced the same end to the other._

 _Alucard looked out the window, frowning at the sight of the eternal night of the Shadow Plane. "What is our foe, father?"_

 _I shrugged. "I know not. But I will find out." I left my throne, then placed a hand on it, binding a small fragment of my power to it. Just enough to keep a small connection to it. If I succeeded in defeating this enemy, I could then find my way back._

 _I was confident of victory. I'd handled many beings of great power in my time. Surely this one would fall. I was a god, now, and not a mere mortal. And yet... I didn't want to show it, but the display of sheer power had shaken me. Had I been any other god, those chains would have easily found their way through the castle and trapped me. So the question remained..._

 _Who or what had done this?_

" _Alucard." I spoke. "I am leaving the Castle in the Shadow Plane. I will have to move carefully to find out about our foe, and I can't leave an easy opening to my plane." I took in a deep breath. "And I do not want to lose you again."_

 _He moved toward me. "You can't-"_

 _I ripped a portal out of the Castle and returned to the Material world. I would find Ariel._

* * *

 _Ariel's temple was in even worse shape than it had been when I was still Gabriel. Most of the crystalline structure was now strewn about through the forest, chunks of shining rock. The original chamber was now exposed to the air._

 _But above the ruins of the temple was Ariel, the black and red chains of my foe wrapped around her form. Her asymmetrical wings lay on the ground, torn away, her body dripping blood, and she writhed and screamed with every black pulse of energy that flowed into her. Her body was shifting, enlarging, and ever so slowly her expression turned from agony into serenity. She tilted her head as she looked at me._

 _And then she raised a hand, still encircled by the chains. A wave of pressure tried to flatten me, and it was only an instinctive teleport that kept me from feeling that pain._

 _Telekinesis? That was_ _ **not**_ _one of the powers of the Goddess of Fate._

 _I drew the Void Sword, preparing to attack, when a glint of light caught my eye._

 _Chains, made of_ _ **light**_ _this time. They sought me out, attracted by my power, and I had no choice but to escape. I teleported as rapidly as I could, flying through the air between bursts, and once the chains had fallen behind, I took a look._

 _The chains were coming from distortions in the air. I couldn't quite see them, exactly, as there wasn't anything to really see. Just a sense of sheer_ _ **wrongness**_ _when I looked at that spot._

 _More chains snaked my way, moving and flowing as if they were alive. Definitely a living mind behind them, though, not a very bright one. If it had been wise, it would have surrounded the entire region with chains of light._

 _Still, this was a problem. I needed to distract them. I used my vampiric gifts to call out to the creatures of the woods, and a wolf pack soon came trotting my way, joining me in my flight. Alucard would certainly despise me for this, but I saw little choice._

 _I ordered them to attack the chains. The tiny touch of my power on them was enough to confuse the enchantment seeking me, and the wolves were soon enwrapped, being tormented by the binding as Ariel was._

 _Being careful to keep my power reigned in, I looked carefully, and made a startling discovery._

 _There was no magic in the chains at all. Never had been. It was an_ _ **imitation**_ _of magic. Its shortcomings were vastly, vastly overwhelmed by the sheer power behind them. As far above me as I was above an ordinary peasant. The sheer disparity was...disquieting._

 _Ariel's enlarged form floated my way. Now and again, she twitched, a rictus of agony crossing her features, but they were slowing, stilling._

 _I decided to leave, to attempt to find another method of attack._

* * *

 _It took some trial and error, but I discovered how to prevent myself from being bound. I had to diffuse a good portion of my power, make it so the searching chains had nothing to seek out and latch on to. It was easy to use a chain to bind a person, far harder to bind a cloud. It made it more difficult for me to call upon my greater powers, and the form of the Dragon would be beyond me until I concentrated everything once more. But I needed only remember the look of agony on Ariel's face._

 _Now and again, the chains would strike out of the air, seeking for me,_ _ **hunting**_ _me, and I just had to evade. A testing strike with the Void Sword showed me that the being on the other side of the chains, the binding agent, had so much more life than anything I could fathom._

 _More life energy in this single being than my entire world had. Try as I might...I had no idea how to close the gap between its power and my own. Worse yet, I had only seen its probing attacks, not the being itself._

 _I had one chance. I headed for the Holy City Solanar._

* * *

 _Solanar, jewel of the world, was a twisted ruin._

Some half a mile away, blotting out the sun, was an immense towering being. Thin, gaunt, and wailing in pain.

 _Gaia. She had been twisted, too. The god of the living earth itself. She towered over the city, casting a shadow over the central temple, and around her, the air distorted, nearly humming with power. As I numbly watched, the Holy City twisted and reshaped itself, broad streets turning themselves into narrow, spike-filled deathtraps. Pits opened up in front of fleeing, screaming people, the ground itself becoming an enemy._

 _I floated above the city, moving toward the Grand Cathedral. As a boy, I had been in awe of this place. As a man, I wished to serve here. As the Lord of Darkness, I wanted it razed to the ground._

 _Apparently, I would not have to wait long to get my wish. The walls of the Cathedral were being ripped, even now._

 _Solin kept a chamber within. Most of the gods kept a place to link to their realms, it made it easier to keep the line of communication between deity and follower open. Typhon had his temple. I had Castlevania itself. Ariel's had been defiled and destroyed. Ifrit had his volcanic mountain home. Solin likely kept a bridge to the Light Plane here, although I hadn't bothered to attack it._

 _Not because I feared facing him. Simply because he had so many followers that he would never have to leave the ethereal state that made him unassailable. That simple protection, that let him pretend to be more than_ _ **I**_ _or any of the others, had kept him safe. Now with so many of his priests dead, the followers running...perhaps I could finally end this._

 _I stormed my way into the Cathedral. I could feel its nature attempting to evict me. If I had simply been a vampire, I would not have been able to cross the threshold. Not because it was a holy place, but simply because so much Light Magic had been channeled here that it would have burned them just as the sun would._

 _Fortunately, I was more than simply a vampire. I am the Dragon._

 _I found a cowering fat priest wearing white robes and an oversized hat, whimpering and praying to the Phoenix as I tore my way into the inner sanctum. "Oh holy god, please, turn aside this devil! Cast him out of this place!"_

 _Of course, his god did nothing. Why would that change now?_

 _Without a care, I grabbed him. Dragged him with me, crying in fear. I reached the innermost chamber, a place filled with eternal sunlight. Then I slit the man's throat with a claw, drank deep, and strode into the beam of light._

 _I found myself in a crystalline palace. I recognized the style immediately._

 _Not only was Solin a coward, he was a thief of ideas. It was laid out in much the same manner as Ariel's temple had been, if I could have stepped back in time some two millennia or so._

 _I dropped the body of the priest. Let his stink befoul this plane. I felt my powers resonating, and I let them guide me. The palace was crumbling about in places, and here and there were the hasty signs of desperation. An overturned sconce here, a scorchmark there. I found my way to a throne room, nearly a mirror of my own._

 _Definitely a thief. Plagiarist._

 _Somehow, I'd expected more when I found the god I hated so much. An average-looking man, face filled with youth, short blond hair. His blue eyes were filled with desperate fright as he looked at me._

" _I should have guessed you were behind all this chaos, Gabriel." He spoke, trying to sound confident, strong._

 _Pathetic._

 _I spread my arms, smiling. "Ah, so you lay blame, as ever, on others for your own faults. The chaos of your city's fall is not my doing 'phoenix.' You are hardly the beautiful firebird of light you claimed to be, cowering here like a wretch as the world burns."_

 _He stood from his throne, managing a snarl, despite the fear I could easily see. "If you had done as I had asked, none of this would have happened! You betrayed me, Gabriel!"_

 _I burst out into laughter. "Is that how you remember it? I recall you telling me my son was dead, when he was not. I recall you telling me you could resurrect my wife, when you could not. I recall you_ _ **ordering the man I trusted above all others to destroy that which was dear to me, and he did so because of his love of you.**_ _But please, do go on. Let us speak of betrayals further." I manifested the Void Sword._

 _Solin, somehow, managed to gather a bit of courage. "How did you manage it? Slain four times and risen four times? How?"_

 _I smiled viciously as I advanced on Solin. "Tis simple, foolish little alchemist. I am worthy of my power, of my station. I stole it from Typhon, but I have made it_ _ **mine.**_ _You, on the other hand, are unworthy of any station beyond the cleansing of vermin, and I have no doubt you could fail even that."_

 _Solin went still, and his hands ignited in light, determination rising on his features. "You forget, Gabriel, that I slew a god once, as well."_

 _I grinned. "Ah, so you will make this_ _ **fun.**_ _Good." I lifted the Void Sword. "And don't you dare call me that. Eu sunt_ _ **Dracul.**_ _"_

* * *

 _The blood of a god was on my tongue as I left Solanar. My victory had taken many centuries. I felt some small measure of satisfaction._

 _But mostly, it was hollow. Gaia was tearing Solanar apart, and I had no solution. My attempts at attacking were easily rebuffed. Even with the Void Sword, I simply could not damage the twisted god enough to reach something vital. Assuming there was anything vital at all. That, and if I stayed in one place for too long, the searching chains would begin hunting for me. Keeping my power diffuse was preventing them from easily getting me, but I had no desire to end up like the rest._

 _So I attempted an avenue of attack. I waited above the ocean, floating in the air, gathering my will while keeping my power as diffuse as possible. Then I sent out a pulse of my power, then another, and another._

 _It did not take long for the response to reach me. Chains of light struck out of the distortions, searching for me. Due to my power being spread out over miles, however, they searched and groped blindly. I summoned the Void Sword, picked a chain, and slashed at it._

 _Such an_ _ **immense**_ _amount of life within. It would have been enough to feed me for a decade, if I could hold onto all of it. The chains reared back, as if shocked, then searched for me, diving toward where I had slashed. I'd already moved onward, though, moving to the far portion of the cloud of my spread-out power. I summoned my wrath, striking at the chains with lightning._

 _Back and forth it went, the chains seeking me, hunting me, while I struck at them, draining them of power and energy. There was so very much behind this that I could barely comprehend, but I'd noticed something. My power, while lesser, was filled by an ever-lasting river, always replenishing itself._

 _While the power behind the chains was as a finite ocean. Far, far larger, but with patience, I could possibly whittle it down. Remove enough strength from it for it to give up, or perhaps, slay it._

 _Eventually, the chains ceased coming. I readied myself, turning as I felt a presence behind me._

 _Fire coalesced in the air, forming a being. It looked as if it was made of molten rock, sexless, but radiating power on a level I could never have imagined. My mind touched it, and I was forced to shudder back from its immensity. It was simple, but it was as if I had touched the mind of a star._

 _It looked at me intently, and then knowledge poured into my mind. A thousand inflections poured into a single concept._

 _[_ _ **Annoyance.]**_

 _I grinned. "So my foe shows himself at last. I must say I'm disappointed. I was expecting more."_

 _ **[Arrogance.]**_

" _Indeed, I am, but I have earned it. And yet, despite the fact you have such an immense amount of power, you hide behind a veneer. Why show yourself now?"_

 _ **[Interest. Amusement.]**_

 _I pushed my mind at its own. I finally understood. It was a simple mind, but vast, because it was made of billions of smaller, simpler parts. I had managed to weaken the one part of it it was using to bind the gods of my world. But it had many, many, many more._

 _A tiny flash of warning. I teleported, only to find myself encased in ice regardless. There was a sickening feeling as I felt gravity pulling the entirety of the mass of ice toward the sea, with me within. I called upon my hatred, the fires of Hell responding to my will, and I exploded outward, launching myself at the Abomination._

* * *

 _The Abomination hovered before me. Impassive. It had taken hours of fighting, desperately flying over the surface of the world as I launched strike after strike, trying option after option. Now I was tired, strained, and the Abomination seemed unharmed by everything I had thrown at it._

 _ **[Annoyance.]**_

 _I stared back at it, unrepentant through the gray field surrounding me. "Ah. So you've given up on killing, or capturing me, and decided on this, instead. More trouble than I am worth, hm?" I'd managed to slash it a time or two with the flames of Chaos, and even now, I could feel a slight hint of that power on the Abomination. I had simply irritated it enough to stop playing around and decide on a prison._

 _It was a bitter truth to face. I had been overconfident, and failed miserably. I never truly had a chance._

 _ **[Satisfaction.]**_

 _I grimaced as my body was forced back into the position I had been in a moment before. Try as I might, I could not escape the prison. My teleportation had been nullified by the inviolate barrier at the edge of the bubble. My mist would not leave. My bat form was trapped. I could not even attack, though I tried. Fire, ice, and lightning alike could not pierce the edges of the bubble._

 _ **[Gratitude. Solution.]**_

" _What?" I snarled. I forced my mind deeper into the being's own, feeling strained as I winnowed my much smaller mind through the Abomination's. This being...there were more of them. Many more, more beyond counting. They had been hunting for an answer, a way so they could feast upon the heavens forever._

 _And the gods of my world seemed to provide a clue. Finite power, but ever-lasting, so long as there was a world for them to inhabit. It intended to bring the information back to its brethren. To try and find a way to create new gods and forever feast upon them. It had even copied the effects of the magic it had observed, if not the methods to produce them. Parasites!_

 _Death would_ _ **despise**_ _these Abominations._

 _It flew away, streaking off toward the morning sun. I felt the light on my face, irritating just slightly, but a mere annoyance._

 _I still had a connection back to the Shadow Plane. Though I was still entrapped, once the Abomination left, I could bring Castlevania back into existence, and perhaps bend the minds of my servants back towards freeing me. There is no problem without a solution._

 _And then...horror filled me. The ocean beneath me boiled, day turned into night, and entire mountains of liquid rock and earth flew past my prison. The cataclysm lasted only seconds, but I found myself in the void between worlds, molten chunks of rock flying in all directions. I looked over my shoulder and saw the core of my world, burning as brightly as the sun, seething in molten fire._

 _Rage filled me. Beyond anything I had ever known. I pushed everything into the Void. I needed to be_ _ **calm**_ _to take my next move. The vast majority of my power was outside my prison, if still tenuously connected. It was rooted in the soul, not the body, and that seemed to be something the Abomination was ignorant of. I still had options, even if my soul was trapped with my body, my divinity gave me a few methods to attempt vengeance._

 _Sifting through the memories I had stolen, I had a realization. Mine was not the first world this being had murdered. It was simply the latest. If it had done as it usually had, there would be three more Abominations floating off into the void. It cut short its cycle when it realized it had a prize in its grasp. Only_ _ **one**_ _was leaving, to seek out the others._

 _I felt the small connection I left upon it, through the fires of the Hells. It seemed to be ignorant of the planes' true nature, as they were every place. This being funneled through mirror images of the world, but the planes weren't connected to any one of them. They were born by the soul, touching a theme, and while they were devoid of things by nature, a deity connected to them could shape them however they wished, given some effort. I had done that very thing to create the living Castlevania._

 _But I could not bring the Castle back into existence, here. It was meant to be anchored to a world, and if I did, the power that held it together would diffuse into the void. No matter what I did now, I was trapped. But regardless of its great power, the Abomination made a mistake. This prison of twisted time allowed my soul to continue thinking, rather than trapping even my mind within its loop. It gave me a chance._

 _This Abomination would_ _ **pay**_ _for its temerity._

 _I knew this would pain me. I was exposed to the sun, and it was only my great power that made it a slight irritation. Shunting as much of my power as I could into the power of Darkness would weaken me to the point of being a newly-raised vampire. And with this prison of mine, I might never die from the sun, however many times it burned me. With things as they are, it was nearly peaceful, here._

 _But if I had to condemn myself to a living hell to get my vengeance on the being who murdered my world, then so be it._

 _I let the power of Darkness take everything it could from me. My flesh began to sear in the sunlight as it streaked out, connected to me only by the tiny shred of will I had on it and its equally-small connection to my throne. I let it seek after the Abomination, chasing the connection formed in Hellfire. I concentrated through the pain as, after an eternity, my power reached the Abomination._

 _The beast had, apparently, entered a resting state, barely aware as it sought some destination. Some_ _ **rip**_ _in space it had traversed to reach my world. Something unusual by its standards, and entirely unknown on my own. It was unaware as my mind carefully touched the Abomination, my power utterly dwarfed by the thing. It was larger than my entire world put together, and it was because of that, my power managed to steal its way within like a thief in the night._

 _Such a strange thing. In one sense, it did not exist. It had single fragments of itself existing in many, many mirrors of the void between stars. In another sense, it was titanic beyond imagination, so immense that its bulk would destroy a star just by passing too close, if it gathered all its substance in a single place._

 _But it had to have some weakness. Every being had one._

 _It passed through the tear, weaving itself through the empty void. I spent the time, burning, but concentrating, shunting the pain into the Void. It took another eternity for me to find something. I smiled viciously on my regenerating lips._

 _Of course this creature had foes among its own kind. It even had a weapon to aid it against enemy Abominations. I pushed my power toward the piece of itself that carried the weapon. If the being hadn't been concentrating on something else, far-off in the distance, I likely wouldn't have been able to take control of the tiny fragment._

' _Control' wasn't quite correct. It had a rudimentary mind of its own, eager to act. It was somehow like a dog. All I had to do was tell it to act._

 _And it did._

 _Bursts of energy lanced out from the weapon-fragment, in all directions, through all the mirror-voids the Abomination inhabited. I had the slightest feeling of_ _ **surprise, panic**_ _from the Abomination, before its massive, gestalt mind fell apart, becoming nothing more than a slowly spreading cloud of drifting, dying fragments._

 _Within my prison, I laughed. One does not simply cage the Dragon!_

 _Then something caught my attention, told to me by drifting my power over the dying fragments. Two more Abominations approaching, entwined with each other._

 _ **[Curiosity.]**_

 _ **[Salvage.]**_

 _ **[Hesitation.]**_

 _ **[Investigation.]**_

 _ **[Agreement.]**_

 _One of the pair gathered some of the drifting fragments. My power, ethereal as it was, came along for the ride. I could sense the new Abomination pausing over the dormant forms of the stolen, mutilated gods. Their power was faint, still. It likely did not realize just what prize it had gained._

 _The pair resumed their journey, drifting through the void. Ages passed, while I burned in the light, aeons and many mirror-voids away. I was not still. I searched my way through the new Abomination, my power unseen and unfelt by the thing. It was different from the first, so very different. Most of its fragments were asleep, its gestalt mind as immense as the first, but more sophisticated._

 _The pair approached a world. In truth, uncountable mirror-worlds, but I recognized it regardless. Another version of my own. Different in uncountable ways, but I knew what their approach meant._

 _They would kill this world, as their cousin had killed mine, just to create new twisted spawn and resume their hunt._

 _I could do little. I was not yet familiar enough with this new Abomination to find its weak point. I tried to find another fragment like the one I had tricked into killing its master, but there were so_ _ **many**_ _fragments and so few with useful abilities for my purpose._

 _Ah. Here is one with possibility. The Abomination was distracted by a fragment it had picked up from my victim. Its mind was not focused on the rest of its being._

 _And another fragment coordinated its many fragments into a single being. Billions of fragments under its coordination, as essential to this Abomination as a spine was to a man. This one was more difficult to manipulate than the weapon-fragment. Harder to bend to my will. Try as I might, I could not tell it to tell all the other fragments to disperse themselves from each other, turning a mighty titan into raining stars._

 _Instead, I used it to tell just one fragment, the one the Abomination was using with such intensity, to keep working, long after it should have stopped._

 _And I laughed as the Abomination landed in an unintended place and time, wounded. Easily crippled by the mortals who discovered it. The fragment I had used in my will carried on, unknowing of the role it played. Resuming, in its simple mind, the actions it was designed to do._

 _It touched many minds, seeking a host. I attempted to seek out the other Abomination, but it was hidden now. Its fragments scattered across uncountable mirror-worlds, and without being linked to one-another by the Abomination itself, I had no chance of finding it._

 _So I considered my options. The strain of attacking these things from so far away was taking its toll. I could do this for a while, but I was unsure how long I could before the power of the Lord of Darkness would slip from my grasp entirely. I needed to find someone who could take the power, use it, and not simply destroy with it. With my power riding along with the fragments, it was...simpler, to evaluate a candidate when they were touched, connected to by the fragments of the Abominations. As each fragment I had touched while trying to figure out my enemy made their evaluations, my power would make its own._

 _As the power began to slip from my control, I gave it one last command._

 _Find my heir. Make it one with a soul of steel. One who will reshape the world with our gifts. One who is_ _ **worthy**_ _of the Darkness, and who can_ _ **master**_ _it and not simply use it as a foolish child would. One who can bring_ _ **vengeance**_ _for me and the uncounted souls they slew._

 _Find me a new Dragon to sit upon my throne!_

 _As the power of Darkness left my direct control, my awareness fully returned to my burning form. I laughed before the moment repeated, healing my seared flesh before I burned again._

 _I laughed. I burned._

 _I laughed. I burned._

 _I laughed. I burned._


	51. Interlude: Dracul, Dragon, Sisters

A/N: Finally! That took a long time to get done.

* * *

Dracul gave the girl a mad grin as she pulled her hand back, his features filled with a mixture of triumph and insanity.

He spoke between the moments before the loop reset. "Now you know the enemy, child. Your world is infected by those parasites. One is crippled, but the other is free. Fail to destroy them, and your world will look like this." He gestured to the emptiness surrounding his prison, the few scattered chunks of rock floating by being all that remained of the surface of his world. The molten-iron core protected him for the moment from the sun, but that was small comfort.

Taylor swallowed, hard. No doubt trying to process the magnitude of what he had showed her. His memories were a hard, painful thing, fresh and clear, even though they should have been faded with madness and pain. Perhaps something about his prison kept him from losing his mind entirely. In truth, it didn't matter.

"You're a monster." She managed to say, pity and revulsion filling her voice.

Dracul made a small, wry laugh. "Yes. I am. Whatever my sins are, however, I am paying for them now. However terrible I was, however...I had no wish to see the world dead. At my worst, yes, I was willing to wipe out all of humanity to kill Solin. I am...not proud of that. Yes, my nature as a vampire made things worse, but that was _my_ choice, and mine alone. I must exist with that. And in the end...I wish my world had lived."

Taylor looked him in the eye. "Your power picked me. You told it to go to someone who can kill those things. You told it not to go to a kid, but I _am_ a kid. I'm not that person."

Dracul laughed, a sound that was all the more unsettling for the hint of madness in it. "Nobody is _born_ that great, child. Talent only brings one so far. No. I wanted someone who would not go mad with power. One who will _build_ with my power. Any old fool can simply destroy with it. Destruction is no measure of being a god. No, I needed someone who could be _more_ than that. If I could not get someone who already was capable, the power would go to someone with the _potential_ for it. Perhaps there were better candidates out there. My power was somewhat...entangled, with the fragments of that second Abomination, and it may not have separated itself to choose among _all_ the world. But only one with a soul of steel can master the shadows. And your soul has a very, very strong core, indeed."

She clenched her hands, her image wavering in the void. "I'm still not that person, Dracul. Nobody is, I don't think. Who the hell can responsibly use that kind of power?"

He looked amused. "And you wonder why it chose you. You're considering _responsibility_ rather than privilege. It is there, that same strength that makes one worthy of being the Lord of Darkness. The strength I had, even as a mortal man. The strength that let you endure the pettiness and betrayals of your former friend. The strength Solin _sorely_ lacked, and the strength even Typhon failed to show when he stared death in the face."

She nodded slowly, then anger filled her features, her eyes turning a solid red. "You were looking into my mind?"

Dracul looked unrepentant. "I have had _far_ too long with only memories and agony to keep me occupied. And I needed to know just how the situation was on your world." He looked into the distance, seeing the stars. "I know I am a terrible being. I revelled in my hatred, my rage, and I have a taste for vengeance that is far, far from healthy. I do not know how long I have been burning, here. But I have had time to think. I could have been better. I was an improvement as Lord of Darkness over Typhon, but not by much."

Taylor nodded with a shudder. "All those people you killed. They were innocents, victims of Solin, as much as victims of you. You had other options."

Dracul smiled faintly. "Yes, I did. I could make excuses, justifications. I spent centuries buried in them, but... my torment has let me think. To delve deep into my own soul. I know what I am, and I may damn well deserve this torment I inflicted on myself. It is a harsh truth, but one I have had to face. You are better than I. I was too full of rage, of _hate_ to think of such."

He shook his head, misery on his face. "Your will is stronger than mine, in some ways. You are young yet, true. You will grow to be a proper Lady of Darkness, in time. But you need not follow my path." Dracul looked pensive, folding his hands before he flickered, returning to his standing position. He looked annoyed as he folded his hands again. "I am not telling you to be my successor in action and deed. I am telling you to make my throne _yours._ I no longer want it. Be a hero, be a monster. Rule the world openly or merely make a quiet refuge in the shadows, _I care not._ Save your world, as I failed to save mine."

She floated near him, gently taking his hand. "I don't know if I can succeed against _that._ But I'm going to damn well try. I don't care what it costs me. Anything would be better than...this." She gestured around at the void surrounding Dracul's prison. "It hurts you, seeing this, doesn't it?"

Dracul nodded slowly. "I grew to hate Solin. Hate humanity in general. I lost much of the man Lisa loved when she lived. But to know all the things about my world that I still cared for is gone... it burned my soul far worse than the sun itself does."

Silence reigned for a moment before he spoke again. "I ask one thing of you, if you can. All I want now is for this to _end._ If you can, ensure that one time, when I burn...I do not come back. _That_ is all I ask of you. Let my soul go to where it deserves to go." He closed his eyes. "Even if my soul is bound for the Hells, which it very well may, I will at least be free of the hold of the Abomination."

Taylor bowed her head. "If I can, I'll do that, too." She smiled slightly, her face filled with an amused pity. "You're still a jerk."

Dracul smiled faintly. "Indeed. Hail to the Scarlet Dragon."

* * *

Dragon sat with Death. The castle had so many places, so many varied locations. On a request to have a private conversation with him, he simply smiled slightly and led her to a little room with a sitting table and a small kitchen.

She sipped from a cup full of tea, licking her lips awkwardly. "This is so weird."

He smiled faintly. "I have some experience in that matter. A mortal form is both more, and less, than the transcendent one. You are still far, far less than I, but before your rebirth, you were closer to how I had been than most could ever be."

Dragon swallowed. "When I was dying, you said I'd earned a soul. How?"

Death shook his head, looking amused. "Souls aren't simple things, my dear. Most complex living things have them, they emerge with that complexity, but so do worlds and stars. Is it so difficult to believe you have one, and have for years?"

She ran her fingertips over the surface of the cup. Sensations were so _novel._ She could get lost in the feeling or running her fingers over anything at all if she didn't distract herself. Tastes, too, were _extraordinary._ Dragon eventually spoke. "I dismissed all that thinking as...well, wishful thinking, really."

He smiled with amusement. "In truth, here in your universe, they didn't matter all that much. Until some hundred years ago, your world had no magic in it at all, no connection to the Planes, and without that, the presence or absence of souls makes little difference as far as how people are. Even with magic existing, without the knowledge of how to tap it, to use it, it had no effect here. Your universe had souls, however, those are independent of magic, and I have been taking them to where they should go ever since the first star died."

Dragon sipped from her tea, nodding slowly. "So what changed?"

Death's face turned grave. "My old friend, the previous Lord of this castle, was entrapped. His power flowed from him to here, following the threat that murdered his world. It carried along with it trapped gods from his universe...well, _that_ is not quite correct, but correct enough for understanding. A god is not simply a being with power. It is a ruler of a plane, _connected_ to it in an intimate way. When they were brought from a universe with magic to one without, much of their power was rent from them, but that _connected_ the Planes to this universe. Now, magic is flowing from them. It has changed the very nature of the cosmos."

He smiled, looking quite amused. "That, however, is causing some other issues. Planes are infinite, and defined by the one who rules them. In time, this Castle will reflect Taylor more than Dracul, though that may indeed take a while. Yours is empty, until you go to it and build in it. I doubt it will be difficult for you, your mind works in such a way the Plane of Light should easily respond."

Dragon closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath. "So why me? Why did this power choose me?"

Death gently took her hand. "There are two reasons. The powers work upon a balance. There could not long exist a Lord of Darkness without an opposite. It is the same for all these concepts. Fire and water, earth and air, renewal and decay. Someone _had_ to become the Lord of Light. And there are _none_ on your world better suited. Others could certainly take the power and use it well...but after how the last user used it in ways that were directly opposed to its nature, it _needed_ someone who would not abuse it."

She looked at him, her mind working through that. Thankfully, that was one thing that wasn't slowed by taking a human shape. It took microseconds for her to work through the implications, and a comparative eternity to voice the next question. "What do you mean by its nature?"

Death chuckled. "The light is meant to heal, to learn and guide, to organize. Just as the darkness is meant to drive, to test, to push things to change. Without light, a person is little more than a feral animal. Without darkness, he is a stale, dull, dead thing in all but name. Only with both is a person, or a civilization, healthy." He smiled gently. "Even the holders of Light and Dark never perfectly embody those things. It is the _yin_ and the _yang._ Even within the center of either force, there is a core of the opposite."

Dragon smiled slightly. "Thank you."

He returned the smile. "Quite welcome. More tea?"

* * *

Vicky grinned. "That is _sweet_ , Ames." The bedroom was comfortable, and strewn around were a few knick-nacks and twisted pieces of chitin, the results of Amy's experimenting.

Amy smiled proudly, nearly bouncing on the edge of the bed, turning the black armor piece in her hands. "Thanks. My powers are a bit different now, so this was a lot harder for me to do now than it would have been before, but here it is."

Vicky rapped it with her knuckles. "Stuff's harder than anything I've seen. You got this idea from Red?"

Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. It was biological, but it's _more_ than that. I knew how to build the structure intuitively, but it's not just the structure that makes it what it is. There's something, some _energy_ here in the castle that fills the spaces. But here it is, Vicky. Dragonscale armor. It'll take a while for me to make a full suit, and it's a lot of effort, but this stuff's much, much stronger than steel. It'll be enough for me...and I'm not sure I can be Panacea anymore."

Vicky sat next to Amy, letting out a huff. "Hey, I'm sure you can. You can still heal, right?"

Amy bit her lip, then shook her head. "It's really, really hard. I can heal people, but it's really hard for me to see what I'm doing." She sighed. "I can mess with my own physiology easily, but someone else's? I'll probably kill the patient. Panacea's gone. At least until I can figure out how to see things clearly again."

Vicky nodded, then she bit her lip. "So...we gonna talk about what you said?"

Amy flushed in embarrassment, her newly-blue eyes filled with awkward shyness. "I was dying, Vicky. Taylor wasn't sure it was going to work. I thought..."

 _Whispered on a weak breath. "I'm sorry. I'm in love with you. Please don't hate me."_

Vicky sighed. "Ames, it's fine. I ain't mad. It's awkward, sure, but I'm not mad. Personally, I'm just grateful you're still here. You...umm...still feel the same way?"

Amy nodded slowly, looking mortified. "It's...not as strong, now. Or maybe it is, it's just I can feel attracted to _more_ than just you. I think, maybe your aura made things worse. I don't feel it anymore, but..dammit. It's a mess, Vicky. I don't know how I feel."

Vicky nodded, humming thoughtfully for a minute. Her voice was quiet as she spoke. "It's not something I'm exactly comfortable with, Ames. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I was blanketing you with my aura all those years. Couldn't have helped."

Amy smiled faintly. "Yeah. It didn't. I know you were trying to help. Always trying to protect me, to help me. The method wasn't exactly smart, but...we're supposed to be kids here, doing dumb things. And with everything intense now...yeah. If I still felt your aura, I'd probably do something really, really stupid right now." She sighed. "Things just aren't going to be the same. I'm a vampire now, and we don't know how that's going to affect things."

Vicky chuckled a little. "Course things are different. Still, you're my sister, Ames. Adopted, sure, but I don't care. I can't think of a damn thing that'd make me hate you. Not without some twisted Master doing it, anyway."

The stricken look on Amy's face made Vicky pause. "Ames? You all right?"

Amy shook her head, her voice tiny. "I could have, you know. Before this, when my powers gave me a clear look at people. I could have just reached out, tweaked a few chemicals, and made you love me. Every time I touched you, there was that _temptation_ in the back of my head. The worst part was, it would have been _easy_. Just...one twitch. Done. And I'd have what I wanted, just with the simple act of murdering the sister I knew to make a new one."

Vicky shifted off the bed, but stayed near, kneeling in front of Amy. She gently touched Amy's forearm, though through the dress. Her voice was thick with faint horror. "Thought you couldn't do brains, Ames."

She spoke with her eyes closed, her voice faint. "Always could. Complete biokinetic, and to my power, the brain was just more tissue. I could do just about anything with it. I never wanted to touch a brain because if I made a mistake...if I tried to heal it and healed it _wrong_ , that person was changed. Gone, and I couldn't be sure I'd be able to change it back and fix it. I always told people I couldn't do brains because I never _wanted_ to."

Slowly, carefully, Vicky took Amy's hand. Amy opened her eyes and looked back.

Vicky smiled faintly. "Glad you didn't, sis. And not just for me." She made a shuddering sigh. "I trust you. Always have. But to have that weighing on you, I can't imagine. That's...a horrid thought, to have." She swallowed, still looking a bit hesitant. "You say you can't do it anymore?"

Amy shook her head. "I can still see, still alter, but it's a lot harder. Maybe I could do small bits at a time, but the brain...it's a tangled mess to me now. I'm actually glad, you know."

Vicky nodded faintly. "We'll deal." Carefully, Vicky wrapped Amy in a hug, and the new vampire returned it, making a soft sob.


	52. Family 6-1

A/N: Almost caught up, now.

* * *

I stood on the doorstep of the Dallon's house. Carol looked at me, her eyes unreadable.

Her voice was quiet. "I owe you an apology."

I blinked.

She must have seen my confusion. "The last few weeks have been...stressful, to put it mildly. I was angry with you, but not because of you. You reminded me too much of Marquis, and we'd clashed too often years ago." She clenched and unclenched her hands. "I don't like lacking control, especially with things in my life. It's not good, or right, but..."

I winced. "I think I can get it." I shuffled my feet a bit on her front porch. "Kinda in the same boat."

Carol nodded. She opened the door all the way and let me in. "Amy and Vicky are upstairs. Packing up her things. I don't like what we're doing, here, but if the sun's as dangerous to Amy as you claim...I don't want to risk losing her again."

I stepped inside, looking at Carol closely. "This really, really bothers you, doesn't it?"

She made a wry smile. "Yeah. But it's time I stepped back. Your butler helped show me I was letting the past rule me."

I smiled slightly, nodded, and went up the stairs. I could hear Vicky laughing at something. I stepped up to the door of Amy's room and leaned on the doorframe.

There the sisters were, sitting together on the bed, playfully wrestling back and forth as they fought over a picture. I say 'playfully' because with Vicky's strength, there's no way she could lose if she really wanted to win. I cleared my throat, and they looked up, embarrassment on their faces.

I grinned. "I can leave you two to mess around if you want. I can always call up someone else to move your stuff to Castlevania."

Vicky pouted. "That's not fair and you know it. Nobody else can right now."

I shrugged. "Details, details." I gave Amy a smile. "Just about set?"

Amy nodded, looking at the seven or so boxes filled with her things. Vicky took the picture and set it in a box, giving Amy a gentle hug on the shoulders. I managed to take a glimpse of the picture.

One little blond girl, one brunette, dressed up in red outfits and wearing Santa hats, grinning at the camera. Amy blushed a little, her voice filled with embarrassment. "First Christmas here. I don't remember too much about it, but..." She leaned over and gently smacked Vicky's arm. "It was the first time I felt loved, here."

I smiled, nodding. "I can see why it's important." Carefully, I closed the lid of the box over the picture. "Just about ready?"

Amy nodded. She took one last look around, the room nearly bare, and sighed. "Yeah."

I opened a Shadow Portal near the closet, picked up a box, and helped with the move. She wouldn't have to live in my castle for _too_ long.

Though, of course, she was welcome to.

* * *

I closed my eyes, listening to the whispering wind. Funny, Brockton Bay even smelled different.

I'd only been away from it about a week. It felt like a lifetime. In a way, maybe it had been. The mental image of Dracul in the void, burning, laughing, but also in eternal agony as the chunks of his Earth floated about, forming a ring around the sun...

An image of my world's future, if I couldn't find and stop the last Abomination.

 _I rose from my throne. My face pale as I spoke to Death. "I need...goddamnit, I don't know what I need. There's two things out there we have to kill, fast!"_

 _Death looked at me, his voice cutting through my barely-controlled panic. "One."_

 _I blinked._

 _Patience filled his voice as he spoke. "The enemy Dracul managed to distract died. It was crippled by the mortals, yet lingered on for years. However, their efforts managed to kill it, eventually. I brought her soul to where it belongs in nineteen-eighty-five. The other, however, is alive. Active. It has an avatar, but I am unsure what it is. It has managed some effort to...hide, from even I." He turned his head slightly. "The soul of the second Abomination was rather reticent. She did not and will not speak to me about what she knows. Still, the third lives, somewhere. It has enormous power, and if it is not slain, it will likely kill your world as its cousin killed Dracul's."_

" _Why did you hide this from me?" I demanded._

 _He looked at me with sadness. "What could I say? It is your task to help save billions? Uncounted more in the dimensions connected to your version of Earth? When we first met, you were still frail, still recovering from your rebirth. Even now, you aren't ready for this responsibility. No being is. Thankfully, you are not alone in this task, but **no** being, however powerful, should be singled out to be responsible for a world."_

 _I sighed, slumping back onto the throne. A tiny part of my mind noted the thing was absurdly comfortable. "I thought you were everywhere." I muttered._

 _He nodded. "I am. But I only gain information when someone **dies.** I arrive and take them in that instant, and outside of Castlevania, I have little awareness of things beyond that. There are limitations upon even me. I do not know everything. The most I know is of **you** , because I gained my freedom from the power of the Lord of Darkness and there is still a link. This last Abomination has not killed anyone who knows what it is. On other worlds...yes. They know. But they are all different, so very different from each other. Their strategies vary so much I can't tell you what **this** one is doing with any certainty."_

I opened my eyes, seeing the city before me. From here, at the top of a building downtown, everything looked small. I wondered if that's how everything looked to those _things_.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it from my coat and answered. "Scarlet Dragon."

Dragon's voice was amused. _"You know that's going to get confusing."_

I shrugged to myself. "Yeah, well, I _did_ turn into one in public. And it feels right."

" _Given what we know now, that's not all that reassuring. Still, I'm working on some things that might help...though considering what you and Death have said..."_

I sighed. "Yeah. Even with our powers, we're ants trying to figure out how to kill Godzilla."

Dragon's voice was serious. _"Maybe. But I've got a few ideas. We've got to identify where to look, first. There's a few possibilities...Sleeper's at the top of the list. I don't like any of them. There's other concerns on a personal level, though. Someone in Wallterton, Ohio, tried to break into your PRT files."_

I blinked. "Tried?"

She sounded smug. _"Before we left for your castle, I set up an adaptive firewall program. Not sentient in itself, but very sophisticated. Stopped the probes cold. Someone's interested, though."_

I hummed a little in thought. "Well, you and I are celebrities, now. Well, you're _more_ of one, but still. Second I got back there were a bunch of messages asking for interviews."

Dragon chuckled. _"You'll learn to deal. Or hide from the paparazzi. What's next on your to-do list?"_

I huffed. "Right now...not sure. The messes of the Bay are pretty minor in comparison, but..."

" _It's home."_

I chuckled. "Yeah. What have you got going?" Idly, I lifted my left hand, calling on one of Dracul's memories. Electricity sparked between my fingers, making a little arc that bridged between them. Zappy zappy.

Dragon's voice was full of thoughtfulness. _"Right now, seeing how these new powers of mine work. Paladin's with me."_

I smiled a little. "Can probably help with that. If yours work anything like mine, I should be able to get things going on your end."

" _I'll meet you at the Rig tomorrow, then?"_

"Sounds good. Catch you then, Dragon."

" _Wait!"_ Her voice caught me just as I was about to hang up. _"Your idea. It's going to make a lot of people upset."_

I chuckled. "I know. But it's the best way I can set up as many resources as possible. We need every chance." I grinned to myself. "Besides, I don't exactly need a permit for this."

Dragon laughed. _"I'm pretty sure you would, if they knew it was possible. I'm in your corner."_

"Thanks, Dragon." I hung up, putting the phone away. I got to my feet, shifting into my demonic form, with only the slightest bit of discomfort as my body changed, my wings sprouting from my back. My clothes shifted into my armor. I stepped to the edge of the roof, spread my arms, tucked in my wings, and plummeted.

The street rushed toward me as I fell. I could feel my instincts pushing me to take the shape of my bat swarm. I resisted, called upon the memories Dracul gave me, and let my power flow. The street neared.

Keeping my wings tucked in, I swooped from a fall to a horizontal glide, and then rising upward, feeling my powers flow through me. It was _effortless. Simple_. I hadn't considered trying to fly like this because it just hadn't occurred to me I _could._ Gravity had only as much hold on me as I let it. And I was _done_ obeying the laws of physics! Well, _this_ law, anyway!

I whooped with excitement as I weaved my way through the buildings of downtown before I flew straight upwards, flying higher and higher. I could feel some resistance ahead of me, straining as I pushed to fly faster.

The resistance gave way. I tucked my wings in further, helping to streamline my shape as I cut through the air at supersonic speeds. It was uncomfortable, difficult at first, but my senses adjusted, and then it became _natural._ I was rushing over the water of the Atlantic, the air cold, whipping, but somehow welcoming. I flew higher into the atmosphere, feeling my tears begin to freeze in the air as the temperature plummeted and air thinned. Due to my nature, however, the thinness of the air was no problem to me. My eyes continued to work, despite the fact they should have frozen in the cold. Exhilaration filled me.

I finally stopped, hovering in the air effortlessly. I looked up, seeing the nighttime clouds blocking my view of the stars. The clouds were close. I knew I could fly higher, perhaps even to the edge of space itself if I were so inclined.

 _I am the Lady of Darkness, and the world is my patron. The shadows are my home. The void is my strength. And my will is the storm._

I lifted a hand. Concentrated. My will parted the clouds, allowing the moon and stars to shine through. From up here, the light of the city was nonexistent. I could see so _many_ stars up above. The glory of the universe revealed to me.

I looked down. Brockton Bay was a small light on the horizon, barely visible even with my sharp eyes and vampiric senses. The air was clear, and I could see the sliver of the moon reflecting off the waves of the ocean below.

Since I'd awakened, people had been telling me I had the power of a god. Death, the servants of Castlevania, the impression of Dracul, my own subconscious.

It was here, now, for the first time, that I felt like a god. And yet, I was still so very small. Above the mortals, powerful, capable. But still below the cosmos.

I looked up to the stars once more. _How many of you have those **things** circling around you? Harvesting worlds from their places? Murdering trillions?_

 _How many Draculs are there, watching their worlds die?_

I felt my body humming as I drew upon my determination.

 _This is one world that will not die, until Death himself comes for her soul._

I flipped myself around in midair, flying east. Over the ocean, where nothing was around. Hundreds of miles out, well into international waters. I'd done a little research. If I simply did as I wished on U.S soil, the government, and especially the Protectorate, would have a good case for attempting to seize everything I could bring by force.

But I would not be bowed by them.

I flew lower, until I was maybe about a hundred feet over the water. Everything seemed so peaceful out here.

Well, it was about to get exciting.

I closed my eyes, concentrating as my voice came out, barely above a whisper. I knew my words would be heard. "I am the dark shadow within the hearts of humanity. I am the righteous rage that will not suffer at the behest of monsters. I am what demons swear to follow, as I give them purpose beyond mayhem and murder. The heavens themselves will give me leave, lest they be rent asunder by beings far worse than I. Even the murderers of entire worlds will learn to fear me."

I opened my eyes as I built my power to a crescendo. **"I am the Scarlet Dragon. And I call thee into being."**

My power flowed outward from me. Darkness spread, blanking out the moon, the stars. Space itself ripped and tore at my will. A storm formed above my head. A flash of lightning finally lit up the air, and I smiled.

Before me, floating in the air, resting on a landmass of its own, was Castlevania. I flew upward, seeing my home from above, and took in just how truly massive it was.

My castle was here, in reality. I grinned.

Now let's just see how many hornets come looking at my nice, juicy trap.

* * *

A/N: Phew. This one did _not_ want to get done. And may need some more rewriting.

Powers unlocked:

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. Does it need any more description?

Mist Form: Transform into near-invulnerable mist. Has quite a few lethal and non-lethal applications.

Storm Magic: Power over electricity and the storm. An excellent method of long-range attack, and quite painful to most.


	53. Family 6-2

I lounged on my throne, sipping from a goblet of blood. I knew my little stunt here wouldn't take too long to get noticed. Both mundane and parahuman forces would move out within minutes of me doing this.

The storm I'd brought about when I summoned Castlevania out of the Shadow Plane had already dispersed. Though I was out of immediate sight of the mainland, global tracking systems were going to notice an island the size of a small state appearing out of nowhere.

There were a number of advantages to bringing the Castle out of the Shadow Plane. It would be a lot easier for me to get resources flowing outward without me having to personally supervise everything. One of the first things that I'd set on Castlevania's inhabitants was to build a landing that stretched down, near the water. It would be an easy way to get supplies shipped in and my unique goods shipped out. Leviathan's actions may have crippled shipping worldwide, but I had some ideas about that.

The big point, however, was to make this an obvious point of attack. Someone who wanted to take me out would know exactly where to look for me, now, and while it made things more dangerous in some ways, (all right, a lot of ways) it also meant I wouldn't be chasing down leads all over the globe. It also gave a point of separation. Someone targeting me specifically wouldn't have to go and hit my dad's place or tear apart Brockton Bay to draw me out. And more importantly, if the last Abomination had any clue about what had killed its partner, it would likely come here. If not, then I could devote everything I had toward the thing.

Alucard and Meridia entered the throne room, the succubus nearly bouncing on her feet. I couldn't help but chuckle.

Meridia spoke first. "My Lady, I think we've gotten everyone's attention. There are many flying machines circling the castle. Many mage-warriors, as well."

Alucard's voice was grave. "I am still unsure about this course of action. It is a risk, and a grave one."

I nodded. "I l know, Alucard. But I saw what happened to your father, and why he lost. He was alone, the resources spread out. I don't know how much of a chance we'll get if we band everything together, but in order to get maximum effect, we need as much as possible here."

There's also the plus that, with Castlevania on Earth, I wouldn't be cut off from the news.

"Is Amy ready?" I asked, finishing off the goblet.

Alucard nodded. "Her tower is linked only partially with the castle, here. It rests in the Shadow Plane, still. Just in case they go on the attack."

Glad to make sure. I could shift the castle back in mere moments, but there were weapons that could destroy the castle in less than that. I doubted anyone's opening salvo would be a nuke, though. Considering how large this place was, however, even a nuke wouldn't take all of it down. Though it would likely get everything above ground.

I gave Meridia a smile. "Roll out the welcome mat, Meridia."

She bowed. "As you will, My Lady."

I emerged from the throne room, looking up into the clear blue sky. I could see the hovering forms of various parahumans, as well as a few helicopters circling around. The May weather had scoured the snow from the top of the castle. It helped that the air was warmed from below, the morning sun casting enough heat to make things pleasant. I rather liked it. Aside from the minor annoyance that the sun gave me.

Looking down, I could see in the main courtyard, so far below, which were filled with quite a few of my succubi servants, along with a few of the more photogenic inhabitants of my castle. There were some of the iron golems I'd used in the fight with the Simurgh, all polished up and shining a bright red in the sun. What probably confused most of the capes hovering up above was the banner stretched across the battlements.

 **Free Drinks and Pie! All Heroes welcome!**

I grinned to myself, flew up in the air, spreading my wings, though I didn't need them to fly. They felt...good, to have the rushing air flow over the membranes. It was an alien feeling, but also natural. I wasn't quite able to describe it, but it was certainly pleasant enough.

A familiar figure flew toward me. One wearing all black, her cape flapping behind her in the wind. Alexandria. Made sense, considering they likely had no idea just who did this. Until now. I could see the electric blue figure of Legend hanging back, surrounded by a number of other capes. I thought it likely they were all high-end blasters.

Part of me cackled. I spread my arms as she neared. "Alexandria. Welcome to my home. I hope you'll forgive me if I don't take you on a guided tour of the place, it's rather huge and it would take a while."

Alexandria took a long few moments to look at me, her single eye focused. "Do you have any idea the trouble you're in?" She yelled, to let herself be heard over the wind.

I grinned unrepentantly, yelling back. "Yes. I also know the benefits outweigh the problems." I looked around pointedly. Most of the figures of flying capes in the air were as dots from this far out. "I'm flattered at all the attention, but you can tell everyone to either settle down in the courtyard or head on home. My servants will tend to your needs. I've arranged for food and refreshments." I smiled. "Besides, I doubt the helicopters have the fuel to keep circling all day. They can set down somewhere. There won't be a fight here today."

Alexandria crossed her arms. "So sure of that, are you?"

I met her gaze. "You can't afford to fight me. You've got no reason to fight me. I've broken no laws, violated no-one's sovereignty, and harmed no-one. The Protectorate has no claim here. The U.S government has no claim here. Now..." I gestured down. "We can talk about this in my throne room, where it's nice and warm, like civilized people, or we can hash this out by screaming at each other over the wind. Your choice."

Alexandria glared at me, clenching and unclenching her fists. She looked like she wanted to lash out. I'd rather she didn't. While I was fairly confident she wouldn't be able to kill me, I simply had too many options, I'd rather not get into a fistfight with my childhood hero.

Alexandria finally touched a finger to the side of her head. "All forces, the island and its inhabitants are non-hostile. Pull back to station Z and do not engage unless authorized."

Well, Meridia was going to be a bit disappointed she couldn't meet with the heroes again just yet. I smiled. Just as expected. Well, not quite, but good enough. That it didn't start a battle right away was enough. The longer we went without hostilities, the less likely they'd break out. At least today. I turned and floated back down. I didn't have to look to know she was following. It didn't take very long for us to reach the doors to my throne room, and we stepped back inside. Despite the whipping, powerful winds outside, it was still, comfortable and warm in here, lacking even the sound of the wind whistling through the cracks of the doors.

Alucard was there, waiting for us. He gave a formal, practised bow. "Renowned one, welcome."

I could hear Alexandria stop, her boots thunking on the floor. I simply stepped forward, took my throne, and sat, draping my wings along the sides. The throne helpfully molded itself to make the position not just possible, but comfortable.

Alexandria spoke after a moment, her single eye focused on me. "All right. What the heck is going on here?"

I tapped my fingers on the armrest. "It's quite simple. I brought the castle out of my private plane and brought it into the real world."

Alexandria thought on that for a moment. "Why? _How?_ This was an insane move."

I looked straight at her, drawing on the impression of Dracul, deep in my mind. Since our chat, I could drag up a lot more. All I had of him was an impression, not his real thoughts, but a fair bit of what he'd thought and did carried along his power, before it became mine. "We killed one Endbringer. There are two more. I doubt Leviathan or Behemoth are going to be as straightforward. Here in my castle, I have resources. I can build things to bring ordinary people up to the level of parahumans, and I can give equipment that parahumans can use. Alucard?"

Slowly, Alucard drew his blade, showing it to Alexandria. "This is the Crissaegrim." He spoke, a slight hint of a smile on his lips. With a moment's concentration, the blade glowed blue, icy cold radiating from it, and an instant later, it was burning with heat. "I forged this weapon from the shards of two broken weapons, the Ignis and the Glaceium, alloyed with silver from...well, that is not important. What is important is that the materials for weapons and armor like this are available in the castle. Weapons that may give an edge against the last two Endbringers."

 _And against an Abomination,_ I didn't say. The odds were against us, even knowing this much.

Alexandria looked between Alucard, the sword, and me, before she spoke. "What are you going to be asking for to let us have these?"

I shrugged. "Not much. I'm sure the governments and the hero teams around can come to an agreement. I want the S-class threats to the world gone, as much as possible. There are things I do want, but those I can take care of myself."

She took a long moment to look me over. I could almost hear the gears whirring in her head as she thought. "You want Shadow Stalker."

I chuckled. "A little bit. She's on my bad side. But while I would like her taken care of, she's not so important. _She is beneath me_ , for now. Things like the Blasphemies, Ash Beast, Sleeper, Endbringers, aren't. They kill people, all the time, and they need to be put down."

Her voice emotionless, Alexandria spoke. "You think it's that easy to take them down?"

I smiled slightly. "Easy? Nah. But I'm going to damn well give us the best chance we can. And I can't afford to be personally opening portals all the time. I may need to be elsewhere. With the infrastructure set up here, I can set up a permanent portal gate from here, to anywhere, and have them easily maintained on both ends. Then I can just stream things, straight from forging to whomever needs them."

I wasn't about to say I could have done that even with the castle in the Shadow Plane. The whole point of this was to be a trap, after all. The Abomination that killed Dracul's world probed, gathered information, while distributing powers. It then bound up the gods and turned them into stupidly-durable, much more powerful Endbringers. If this one had the same goal of finding a limitless power source as the last, it would likely be interested in an unbound god.

And since powers emerged thirty years ago, as opposed to the seven-year war that ended Dracul's Earth, it had probably settled into a state of observation. I just needed to narrow down the possibilities.

Alexandria scowled at me. "You should have consulted us before doing this. Do you have any idea how many people you've upset? How many people are worried about what could be here? This island is floating in the air. If it falls into the ocean, how many people are going to be killed by the tsunami?"

I smiled. "Yes, I do. A lot, _if it ever hit the water._ " I tilted my head, making a puzzled tone. "But then, why should anyone be all that worried about _refugees_ from a world who were destroyed by Endbringers, and have only now made their way here? While being able and willing to help against those that are threatening our world, in exchange for a few things? And with safeguards in place to shift the castle out of reality, should it be threatened by, say, an incoming nuke?" My smile widened. "As we speak, I've got the ultimate Endbringer shelter being built in my personal dimension."

Alexandria thought for a moment, before her eye widened. "How many people can it handle?"

I shrugged. "Right now? It can handle a few thousand." I leaned forward, letting my voice fill with satisfaction. "Given enough time, it can handle _millions_. Imagine a place that no Endbringer will be able to breach. It won't matter how far they fly, how much water they churn, how much lava they spew. They won't be able to kill anyone inside them. The ultimate evacuation point."

Alexandria took a deep breath. I could almost hear her teeth grinding from my throne. "You really think people are going to accept the story of 'alien evacuees?'"

I shrugged. "I don't care if some people don't believe it. It's actually somewhat true, but that doesn't change what's going on. All we need is enough people to do so. You want extra help against Endbringers and whatever else may come our way? That's the price. The castle remains here." My grin grew wide. "This is what you're going to tell everyone. It's even got the benefit of being somewhat true."

* * *

Alexandria looked uncomfortable as she stood in front of the podium. _"_ _At five-fifteen this morning, a floating island the approximate size of the largest Hawaiian island appeared two hundred and fifty miles off the east coast of the United States. The inhabitants of the island are from an alternate Earth that had been destroyed by local equivalents of Endbringers. They are willing to assist in efforts against our own, and it is our hope that they and these, the United Nations, can come to a peaceable accord with these refugees."_

A hand went up in the crowd. _"_ _What about the rumors that Scarlet Knight was there?"_

Alexandria fixed the reporter with a steady gaze. _"_ _It seems that, Scarlet_ _ **Dragon**_ _is the ruler of the island, not an 'ordinary' parahuman. She came here to see if our world could handle not just the inclusion of her people, but to see if it was, in fact, possible for us to combine our strengths and kill our Endbringers. Her joining the fight in Vancouver was a test. If she couldn't help, then we wouldn't have known about her people. They would have gone on to another alternate Earth."_

Another hand went up in the crowd. Alexandria shook her head. _"_ _I apologize, but I haven't got the time to answer all of the questions right now. We're still trying to sort through everything here. A full, in-depth conference will be called in the near future. Thank you."_

I cackled to myself. In human form once again. Yay for no awkward wing-twisting to sit down!

My dad, his hands covered in grease and oil, looked to the TV, then back to me. "What." He said, flatly.

I shrugged. "Got to come up with a cover story other than 'helpful demonic invasion' dad."

His mouth worked for a moment before he sighed. "If I grounded you for the next decade for this, you'd just ignore it, right?"

I nodded. "Just a bit too important here. I'm not doing this for the giggles. And..." I looked at him seriously. "Dad, there's something coming. Something really, really bad. Right now, I'm laying down the foundation for saving everyone I can."

He squeezed his hands, grimacing as he slowly sat himself down on the old couch. "Taylor, I know you've got a good heart, and a pretty good head on your shoulders. But I have no idea what you're doing. You went off to fight the Simurgh without a word. You killed an _Endbringer_ and I had to hear about it on TV. You've caused an international panic with this. Please, tell me what's going on?"

I sighed, biting my lip before I worked out what to say. "Dad, I found out where my powers came from. I found out where almost everyone else's came from. It's bad. Really, really bad. I'm doing what I can to make sure that as many people get through it as possible."

I told him. Everything Dracul showed me. About the twisting things that only I and Miss Militia could remember. About how Dracul, monster that he was, was suffering in a hell that the Nine gleefully inflicted when Gray Boy was a member.

 _They are beneath me._

Yeah, that's still there. Repetitive little thing.

And dad just looked...distant. After I finished, he just sighed and shook his head. "I feel like I'm one of the background characters in Star Trek."

I smiled. "Make sure you're not wearing a red shirt."

He returned the smile before he got up. "I should get back to fixing the pipe. Damn thing burst when you were in Vancouver, and it'll be nice to get hot water flowing again."

I rolled my eyes. "Dad, we can call a repair guy for that."

He nodded. "Yeah, but I actually know how to do this. Fixing a water line's not that hard. Just needed to get the supplies." He fixed me a glare. "I still don't appreciate being kept so far out of the loop, Taylor. I..." He shuddered. "If I lost you again..."

Oh. Geez. And now I feel like a complete heel. I wanted to blame all this on Dracul, the urge to just plow on ahead and get the job done regardless...but this was me. At some point, I picked up the realization that nobody was going to solve my problems for me, so I'd have to do them...and I hadn't thought for a second what it'd do to my dad if I took on more than I could handle.

The doorbell rang. Dad went to go get it, while I stewed for a moment in my new-found sadness. Ugh. Even with all this time, a mood shift could take me by surprise.

"Hey! Can I come in?" A familiar voice shouted. I blinked as I got up, went to the front door, and looked over my dad's shoulder.

A blonde, about my age, quite pretty, and she wasn't Vicky. She was wearing a leather coat, and set of somewhat worn jeans. Her eyes were bright, as if she was very, very pleased with herself. I had the feeling she usually wore that expression.

Her smile widened on seeing me. "Ah! There you are. Sorry for coming here, but your new apartment? Hard for me to get to. Got some news about the mess out west."

Out west...Vancouver. Obviously. But who...then it clicked. Last I heard her was over the general address in the fight with the Simurgh. Tattletale was at my front door.

I sighed. "Might as well let her in, dad."

She nearly bounded inside. "Thanks! We got _lots_ to talk about."


	54. Interlude: Coil

A/N: And now to everyone's favorite sociopath!

* * *

Coil had a headache. It was a danger of Thinkers, from what he knew. In this case, though, it was due to one simple problem.

He'd been keeping two running timelines going for far, far longer than he ever had before. Normally he collapsed a timeline within a day or two of making a choice. Given his current predicament, though, he'd had it running for six days straight. The longest he'd ever done it before was one and a half.

Ever since the picture of a red girl turning into a big red dragon crossed his desk. And knowing that he had liberated her tormentor from the prison Sophia Hess was supposed to go to...he was wishing he had the ability to hold onto another timeline. Or travel back in time. Or...damn near anything he could use to _just fix this situation._

He reclined in a hotel room in Vancouver, using the position of Thomas Calvert Junior, to help rebuild the city after the Simurgh's attack. After working twelve hours to coordinate with the city, he was worn out. After setting up a white noise generator, he took out a specially-secured phone and made a call.

 ** _He sat upright in a hastily-reserved villa in Italy, his fingers clacking on the keyboard as he typed a message back to Brockton Bay. He wouldn't dare set foot in the city again. Hell, if it wasn't for the terrible climate, he'd be in Antarctica. Not that there was much he could do with an Antarctic base, even with the resources he has. Had. Oh, his bank account was fine, but removing all his assets from the Bay was a pain. Not all of it_** ** _could_** ** _be moved._**

He gripped the phone tightly. "I need you to be ready to move Noelle out of the Bay, quickly."

Trickster's voice was a bit tinny over the line, filled with suspicion and anger. _"_ _You promised she'd have a cure."_

Calvert rubbed his face. What had he been thinking, trying to juggle so many things at once? "And she will. I'm setting up a dedicated facility in Vancouver to house her. At the moment, however, the position in Brockton Bay is far too volatile for me to get the needed personnel in to work."

 ** _"_** ** _Ninety percent chance you die in the next ten minutes."_**

 ** _He turned around, looking at Dinah. She was chained to the wall in the room, an armed bodyguard and a doctor standing over her. He carefully stepped away from his computer, moving to her. "What was that, pet?"_**

 ** _She smiled with satisfaction. "Ninety percent chance you die in the next ten minutes. One hundred percent chance in the next twenty."_**

 ** _His hands shook. What was going to kill him? He was tempted to close this timeline and split the other, but it was too dangerous, too risky. He would have to spend days or weeks traveling from Vancouver in the other timeline from this moment, and figure out a new reserve location._**

 ** _He cleared his throat. "Chance of my survival if I turn Shadow Stalker over to Scarlet Dragon?"_**

 ** _Dinah grinned. "Zero percent chance."_**

 ** _So it wasn't her. So what would..._**

 ** _The ceiling crumbled as a figure burst through it, dust obscuring its form for a moment. Coil backed away, pressing his back up against a wall._**

 _"_ _You still there?"_ Trickster's voice regained his attention.

"Yes, I apologize. I'm a little distracted. I'm in the middle of getting everything set up for her unique needs." He spoke, glancing around the room. Hoping against all reason that another figure wouldn't appear and bring his doom.

Dinah wasn't here. He hadn't taken the risk to bring her with him in this timeline. Too much of a potential problem if he were found in his civilian identity along with a child who was reported dead. And with a body to boot.

It had seemed like such a good plan at the time. Have Noelle copy her, see if a useful clone could be made. If the clones couldn't be controlled or guided, then they would still be useful for ensuring Dinah Alcott was no longer missing. Drop a clone in front of the Mayor's residence, send her to run inside, ostensibly to find her uncle, then detonate the Bakuda bomb hidden in her clothing. The Mayor's estate now sported a glass statue of Dinah, looking surprised and panicked. At least, it had until the Mayor had it quietly hidden away.

It had taken five attempts to get a clone that wasn't able to predict the act in advance. With his power, however, it was simple enough to make sure those left no evidence, since technically they hadn't happened. It was a shame the rest of the clones weren't controllable, but it was worth the attempt to make them, anyway. If he could have had five Dinahs, with her power under his command, well, they would have been very useful for when his operations would expand. Or if something unforseen had happened to the original. At least, so it seemed at the time.

Now? He was beginning to realize he should have simply used his power to build wealth and live comfortably, rather than playing the petty games and power-grab he actually went for.

 _ **A maskless man wearing blue and gold emerged from the dust, a blue cape billowing behind him. His hair was thinning, and his features were plain. He looked, oddly enough, like some family man dressing up as a hero, not a hero himself. His eyes were hard as he looked at Coil. The bodyguard drew his gun, lifting it toward the intruder. He simply turned, grabbed the gun and crushed it in a single hand. With an almost contemptuous shove, he pushed the bodyguard into the nearest wall, knocking the man unconscious with a slap.**_

 _ **The intruder looked at the doctor, who was cowering in the corner. He then looked over at Dinah, who grinned happily.**_

 _ **Then those cold eyes focused on Coil.**_

 _"_ _Holy fuck!"_ Trickster yelled, forcing Calvert to pull away from the phone for a moment.

Calvert turned to his laptop, bringing up a video feed of his base from his secure server. "What's happening?"

 _"_ _Some guy just came out of nowhere! He's tearing his way through here!"_ Gunfire and the distinctive sound of Tinkertech laser rifles began echoing over the line. There was a loud _bang_ as someone fired off a shotgun near Trickster.

Calvert managed to finally get the video feed up, his hands freezing as he saw the same man as in the other timeline, calmly and casually disabling his men with a wave of a hand. The air distorted in front of him, bullets flattening themselves before falling to the ground, while he simply walked up to each attacker and disabled them. The laser rifles were brought to bear, the mercenaries firing rapidly, but the beams themselves twisted out of the way, doing impressive damage to the concrete walls behind the man, but nothing to him.

 ** _"_** ** _Who the hell are you?" Coil demanded. This wasn't good. At least he was safe in the other timeline. He needed to find out everything possible about his assailant. Then he could split things there and try and find a path out of this._**

 _ **The man looked between Dinah and Coil. His eyes flashed, flame filling them from within, and he spoke with deadly intent. "Your sickness ends here." Water formed in his hands, and he thrust his arms toward Coil. A powerful jet of water arced out, slamming him into a wall with bone-breaking force. The last thing he felt...aside from the pain, was the timeline collapsing.**_

Calvert jerked, swallowing hard. He split the timeline.

He started the base's self-destruct. Five minutes and downtown Brockton Bay would sport a new crater.

 ** _He yelled in pain as the Thinker headache drove him to the floor, blood running from his nose. He began to spasm as blood began to leak from his ears, his nose, his eyes..._**

The timeline collapsed.

He breathed in. He swallowed, hard, as he tried to keep himself from shaking. It had been so long since he operated without a safety net that he nearly froze in indecision.

Nearly. "Trickster, are you still there?"

All he could hear were the sounds of running feet. Flipping his way through the cameras, he spotted them. Trickster was busily trying to open the vault door that held Noelle, while the other Travelers were leaving the base through an escape route that Sundancer had made by burning a passage through the walls and into the sewers.

And all he could do was watch helplessly as the man in gold and blue found his pet. She hugged him, and he tenderly picked her up in his arms. A flash of light, then the room was empty.

What the hell was going on?

And...was that music? The white noise generator should be drowning everything from out of the room. It sounded like someone singing a tune. It was...beautiful.

He swallowed hard as he turned around, finding a new figure sharing his room with him. White skin, nearly crystalline. Blank eyes. And dozens of feathery, asymmetrical wings sprouting from her back. She wore a golden toga, and floated just off the ground.

"You're dead." He managed to whisper.

She smiled and spoke, her voice echoing into his mind. _"_ _When a god is slain, death is not the only possible outcome. You, however, are an annoyance. You have slighted and distorted fate for far, far too long, snake. If you live, you will only harm our chances at surviving the Abomination. My gift, and the slayer of the first's own gift, agree."_ She tilted her head slightly. _"_ _While it is true I am still so very, very weak, so little I can see, I have enough strength in this place, this place so close to my death...to handle you."  
_

* * *

A/N: And no. Mystery dude is not an OC.


	55. Family 6-3

Tattletale sat on my couch. Dad was nice enough to get her some tea, and now we rather awkwardly sat together.

"First of all," She spoke and smiled. "Call me Lisa. I'm sorry for dropping in on you like this, and I don't like doing so, because it hits right up against the unwritten rules. But I'm asking for your help."

I blinked slowly. "Why do you need my help? Last time I checked, it wasn't something most villains do."

Dad frowned. "I understand there's a fair bit here I'm missing, but I definitely don't like this."

Lisa sighed, looking down at the mug of tea in her hands before she spoke. "First of all...I didn't really want to be a villain. I got snagged up by Coil."

I stiffened. She nodded at me. "Yeah. He's got a lot going on. Or had. You scared him to the point of leaving town."

I growled from deep in my throat. "You're definitely treading on thin ice here, _Lisa_."

Dad looked between us, anger rising on his features. His hands tightened on the couch. His knuckles turned white, and I could see his face redden. He looked at Lisa, his voice quiet. "You'd better have a good reason for working for him."

Lisa's eyes widened a bit, and she shook her head. "I didn't want to. I got drafted. His recruitment speech involved a gun to my head." She looked between us. "My power lets me get lots of information from a very small amount of data. His men picked me up after I used it to get a few winning scratch tickets." She smiled wryly. "Normally I tell people I'm psychic. Pretty close, really, but I'm just good at cold reading. Absurdly good."

I laughed softly, shaking my head. "Powers are bullshit. All right. So what is it you want from me?"

"Protection." Lisa said. "I pledged to follow you, because that's what my power told me was the right move when we first met. Considering you just summoned an entire flying island full of creatures out of nowhere...wait, not nowhere. They existed all along. Interesting." She tapped her chin, then shook her head. "Anyway, I couldn't just leave his employ. He's got moles in the PRT. If I tried to defect, I'd be found dead in a PRT cell. I tried to run a couple of times, he had men waiting for me. I didn't want to be a villain. My teammates, they're not bad, either. They've been screwed over in various ways, and Coil got ahold of them, though things were a bit more civilized in their cases. I'd tell you, but it's not my secret to tell. Despite my cape name, and all that."

I nodded at that. "All right, fine. How did he manage to suppress everything? Sophia and Emma should have hung for what they did."

She winced. "That? I don't got. I can speculate, and from what I do have, I'm pretty sure it came down to more luck than anything." Her eyes flicked to Dad.

He shook his head. "I know who Sophia is. We were given full disclosure."

Lisa nodded. "All right. Shadow Stalker's always been rough. Before the whole thing with you, she hurt a lot of people in her vigilante work. When she started out, Coil was just getting set up here, slowly and carefully building a power base in the city. He's got enough fingers everywhere to get information rather quickly. From what I know, he found out her civilian identity and had plans to use it if her name crossed his desk with anything useful. His network's pretty damn good, though imperfect. Despite how much they were clamping down on things, it took about four days for him to learn of your return from the dead. Might have gone longer if you weren't running around like crazy." She gave us a mischievous smile. "Glad you did, though."

Dad scowled. "What am I missing here?"

I winced, looking at my dad sheepishly. "Um...kinda saved Lisa here from a rough spot. I was just sort of working on autopilot at the time, but I helped her team out."

His eyes narrowed. "Rough spot?"

I ducked my head, smiling faintly. "They were being attacked, I dove in and helped."

"Lung. She just thumped him on the head and knocked him out." Lisa said with a wide grin.

I blinked. I was _trying_ not to say that. "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome." Lisa said brightly.

Dad sat still for a moment. "You took on _Lung?"_ He rubbed his face. "I need to sit down."

I sighed. "You _are_ sitting down. And I took on the Simurgh, too."

Dad glared at me. "Yes, and I'm still mad about that." He covered his eyes with his hands. Then there was an echoing _bang_ outside, making us all jump. I got up and looked out the window.

Our neighbor's yard had a geyser of water pouring straight up into the air, raining down onto the backyard and the house itself.

I looked to my dad. "Uh.."

Lisa was looking at him, some speculation on her face. "Have weird things happened around you when you were upset, Mister Hebert?"

He sat still for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Not that I know of." He slowly got to his feet and muttered. "Something's got to be wrong with the water pipes in the street. Gotta call the water company _again._ " Dad swore under his breath as he moved to the kitchen.

Lisa opened her mouth, then shook her head and closed it. "Nevermind."

I looked to Lisa. "Go on." I growled.

She nodded, swallowing a bit nervously. "Just a hunch. Probably a dumb idea, anyway. Anyway, I'm not sure of anywhere I can go to get away from Coil. He's got resources, and I...well, don't. I guess you could say I'm asking for asylum. I'll work for you, help you where I can, long as you keep me from him."

I laughed softly. "All right. What about your teammates?"

Lisa shrugged. "All of them got reasons for doing what they're doing. I'd say it's likely you could get Regent on your side. Bitch, too. Grue? Not sure. What he needs is a bit more complicated, but with the right incentives, he probably would. Not sure you can provide, though. At least not now."

I made a wry chuckle. "I've already got an entire population of people to lead, Lisa."

She nodded. "Sure, but you want to help people, right?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, but now I'm officially the head of a foreign nation. Things are a lot more complicated than just me forming a gang, you know."

Lisa's grin was fox-like. "Yeah. And that's where I can come in. I can tell you things that aren't immediately easy to know."

I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Her amusement faded, and she looked at me seriously. "There's a big one I doubt you'll like. The Simurgh let you win. Your attacks, Dragon's attacks, all of it... you might have been able to possibly win if everyone there was working together, but her goal at Vancouver was to let you kill her. If she'd gone all out, it's pretty damn likely that she would have flown on and everyone else there would be dead. Or her time bombs."

I stilled.

 _Ariel, the black and red chains of my foe wrapped around her form. Her asymmetrical wings lay on the ground, torn away, her body dripping blood, and she writhed and screamed with every black pulse of energy that flowed into her. Her body was shifting, enlarging, and ever so slowly her expression turned from agony into serenity._

"I know." I said quietly. At least I suspected, after what Dracul showed me.

Lisa's mouth dropped open as she looked at me. "You know? I hadn't said it to anyone else...you knew the Simurgh. Somehow. Someone told you? No...showed you. Memory sharing. A _telepath?_ How did he know..." She winced, rubbing her temples.

I glared at her. "Calm down."

She shook her head. "Sorry, sorry. It's just..." Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "You _know_ where the Endbringers come from? How?"

My glare intensified, and she swallowed. I knew my eyes were glowing red. "That's my business."

"Right," She said faintly. "Sorry."

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Forgiven. It's just a sore point. I've had a lot dumped on me in a short time. That's one of them. I _might_ tell you one day, but that would be after you've earned my trust. Right now? I barely know you."

Lisa nodded slowly. "Okay. Fair enough."

Silence reigned for a moment. We could hear Dad muttering on the phone. I shared a small smile with Lisa.

"Hold music." She said.

"Most evil thing ever." I said.

Then the ground shook slightly. Not much, just enough of a vibration for me to feel it, making the windows rattle. I blinked. "Earthquake?" I guessed.

Lisa shook her head. "No...not without something weird. That was a single rumble." She got up and headed to the window.

Smoke rose in the horizon. I gave Lisa a look.

"Go." She said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Uh uh. You're coming with me. I'm not letting you anywhere I can't keep my eyes on you." I ripped open a Shadow Portal.

She gulped as she looked at me. "Where we going?"

I grinned. "You'll see. You wanna work for me? You're going to have to deal with the uncomfortable." I raised my voice. "Dad, going out for a bit! Taking Lisa with me!"

He came back from the kitchen, phone on one ear, a frown on his face, and resignation in his eyes. " _Please_ be careful, Taylor. That castle might be your home, but here is too. I'm here for you."

I smiled, went to him and gave him a hug. "I'll try to remember that."

* * *

Lisa and I emerged atop a roof downtown. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting from the darkness of the Shadow Plane.

"That was seriously weird." She muttered.

I looked at the column of rising smoke from below. My newfound minion looked down at it, as well.

"Shit." She said, then turned to me. "That was the Fortress Construction headquarters for the city. Coil's base was below. Well, one of them. He had a lot more, but down there was a big one."

I frowned. "What was down there?"

Lisa shrugged. "Lots of guys. Mercenaries from all over. He has a good supply of Tinkertech laser guns. Well, had, I guess."

I grumbled a little. "Anything else?"

Tattletale tapped her chin, considering. "The Travelers were working for him. So he didn't just have mercs on his side. There was something else, too. A very large vault holding something. I think a Parahuman, but whoever it is has got to be dangerous."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at her calmly.

She shrugged. "Well the vault was built to keep the prisoner _in,_ not just to keep other people _out._ "

I sighed, looking down at the rubble and rising smoke below. "All right." I took out my phone and called the PRT.

" _PRT services, how may I direct your call?"_

I spoke quickly. "This is Scarlet Dragon. I am in downtown Brockton Bay, overlooking the collapsed Fortress Construction building. Is search and rescue en route?"

There was silence for a moment, then the operator's voice spoke, filled with nervousness. _"The police and fire department have been dispatched._ "

I grimaced. "Get the Protectorate to send backup. I've got information that there's a base beneath the rubble that belonged to a supervillain, Coil. There may be unpleasant surprises."

* * *

I looked at a piece of rubble in front of me. It was huge, easily the size of a car, and I wouldn't have even considered trying to move it before my death and resurrection. Not without cheating and using construction equipment, anyway.

I looked over at the firefighters, who were both keeping a respectful distance from me and busily dousing some of the lingering flames. Some of the other firefighters were digging through rubble, though thankfully they hadn't found any fatalities. Quite a few people injured, though.

Tattletale, now costumed, gave me a shrug. "That's where the entrance was. If we want to find anything, that's probably the place to start."

I floated over it, considering the problem from every angle. I felt a grin threaten to split my face as an iconic image came from out of my subconscious.

Tattletale seemed to realize what I was thinking. "No. No way, that's crazy. Maybe if you went all humongous first, but..."

I grasped the chunk of rubble and lifted. My fingers dug into the concrete easily, until I was grasping it by the rebar reinforcements inside the twisted chunk of rubble. Carefully, I lifted it over my head, then flew to the side and put it down.

Tattletale looked at me, her eyes wide. "I knew you were strong, but..."

I shrugged and dusted off my hands. "That wasn't heavy, actually. Just kind of awkward." I looked over at the somewhat cleared space. There was a small amount of room in there, despite all the torn up concrete and rubble filling the former doorway. "Think anyone's left alive in there?"

Tattletale shook her head. "Not likely, without a Brute rating anyway."

There was a distinctive whine of a Tinkertech motorcycle, and Armsmaster pulled up. He gave me a respectful nod, his metal feet clanking solidly as they dug into the ground. Miss Militia pulled up next, parking her distinctive Humvee nearby, while Dauntless floated down from the sky.

"Didn't expect you to be lending a hand." Armsmaster spoke. He looked to Tattletale, who gave him a little nervous wave back. "Not exactly keeping good company."

I shrugged. "She's a former employee of Coil. She's here to help save lives, so if we can put the game aside for a minute and get to what's important?"

Armsmaster's frown deepened.

Miss Militia cleared her throat. "We're going to have to ask her to come in."

Tattletale shook her head. "Look, I'll give a debrief, but call your boss. She already knows it's not likely to be safe for me to go to any of the authorities. Coil has a lot going on, and I don't know if he was down here. I'm only here because I know something about how the base _used_ to be, and where people might be trapped down there. Can we call things on the level for today?"

Armsmaster's lips twitched a little. Then he paused and nodded to himself. "You're still wanted for a number of minor crimes, Tattletale. But right now, saving lives takes precedence."

Dauntless set himself on the ground. I couldn't see his features, but his voice was filled with good cheer as he extended a hand to me. "Good to meet you, Scarlet. Wish it was under better circumstances."

I took his hand and returned the shake, smiling. "You too."

Tattletale rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but can we _please_ get to work? I'm pretty sure we don't have all day."


	56. Family 6-4

I kept my back to the gathering crowd as much as I could. Yes, I was famous enough for being one of the two to kill an Endbringer, but I had something important to do, dammit. Waving at a crowd and posing for photos? Not something I wanted to do right now.

It took hours for us to extract enough of a gap in the entrance to get inside. Well, to get _me_ inside. My powers just gave me too many options. There was one simple problem. I really, really didn't want to go into a cramped little space. Yes, even now, I hated small spaces. Thanks Emma, thanks Sophia!

I know Dracul would have put their heads on a wall by now. I just wanted the two taken off my to-do list, even though my bully problem was so very low on it right now. My personal problems could take a back seat to the possible end of the world.

...and I was going to have serious trouble if the last Abomination brought out small spaces as a weapon. If it even bothered. The one I knew the most about, thanks to Dracul, had more life energy than my entire world in a single fragment. And it had billions. Thankfully, it was dead now, but I seriously doubted I could use Dracul's strategy for killing the last one. If I did, then it would mean our world was already dead.

...stop distracting yourself, Taylor. World-killing thing isn't right in front of you. Maybe. Collapsed supervillain lair was.

Armsmaster looked at me, then the cleared entryway. "It doesn't look all that stable. We'll need to send in drones to look for survivors." He looked to Tattletale.

She shook her head. "There _were_ a couple hundred people down there, at least. Mercenaries mostly. The Travelers were based here, too."

Miss Militia spoke then, her voice hard. "And Shadow Stalker?"

Tattletale shook her head. "She was usually kept as a mobile asset. Her skillset and power let her be useful for spying and thieving, very occasional wetwork. After you guys caught her, though, and Coil retrieved her, she's been held inside the base somewhere. What I know is she was held under close guard." Her smug grin widened. "He knew he made a major mistake in retrieving her once Vancouver happened, but he couldn't exactly take any final steps. I'm pretty sure he was worried that if he did, Scarlet might focus entirely on him."

Well then. Obviously he had no idea of what was keeping my attention right now.

I looked to Dauntless, and he looked back. His features hidden behind the Spartan-style helmet, he seemed deep in consideration. Or just staring into space.

I took a deep breath. Closed my eyes. Tried to get a grasp on my broiling emotions. Just the idea of going underground was making my skin crawl. If they actually told me to, I'd tell them to go screw themselves. Phobias. Suck. Once again, I was glad I didn't have to literally dig myself out of my coffin. Thank you, unexpected teleportation power!

Geez, I _really_ lucked out on the vampire power lottery, huh?

A van rumbled as it stopped some distance away. Armsmaster went over, spoke with the driver for a few moments, and then went around the back. A few seconds later, he was surrounded by four hovering drones, guiding them with a control pad.

I must have looked confused, because his lips twitched. "Kid Win's getting pretty good about making antigravs. These are ideal for scouting areas without risking anybody or threatening further collapse, here."

I nodded. "Good. Cause if you ask me to go in there, I'm going to hurt someone."

Miss Milita's eyes crinkled. "You showed up to help before thinking about it, hm?"

I could only sigh. "Yeah." I pointed at Tattletale, without looking. "Say nothing."

I heard her teeth clap together with a click.

* * *

Well. This was exciting. Actually, not really. Seriously boring. But it was still better than me heading underground. Watching Armsmaster pilot remote drones was somehow not the most stimulating thing. Especially since I didn't have a view of the screens he was looking at.

The hover drones apparently didn't find anything early on. We just waited. Miss Militia went off to help with the firefighting effort. I was about to head over myself, when Armsmaster spoke.

"Interesting." Armsmaster spoke. He turned one of the hovering drones to take a closer look at something.

Dauntless looked over Armsmaster's shoulder. "What? You're staring at a wall, Armsmaster."

Armsmaster sounded irritated as he replied. "The wall's smooth. Too smooth. It's like it was cut with something on the molecular level. And a small curve I'm picking up here."

I frowned. "What are you thinking?"

Tattletale's gaze was distant for a moment before she spoke. "A curve means the effect went outward in a wave. Or a sphere."

Armsmaster nodded. "If my calculations are correct, a sphere approximately five hundred feet across. The sudden loss of the support structure made the Fortress building collapse." He frowned. "Not the usual kind of destruction, however. And this is odd, too...we've not found any bodies in the building itself. There's injured here, but mostly pedestrians, and the injuries are minor. Nobody's dead here."

Tattletale shook her head. "No, no way. Coil's the type who'll let hundreds of people die if he goes. He wouldn't care to make this clean."

Dauntless spoke, puzzlement in his tone. "So what's the theory? Something hit Coil's base in such a way as to prevent deaths, but cause such destruction?"

Armsmaster thought for a moment. "Or the destruction was a side-effect. If I'm correct, then a lot of the base is simply gone. But if not annihilated, where is it?"

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with Tattletale leading me, and therefore the Protectorate around the city, ferreting out the locations of each of Coil's bases. All told, he had about a dozen, though none as large and well-developed as the one beneath the Fortress Construction building. Most of them had the signs of a hasty evacuation, though we found one with a few mercenaries still manning the helms.

It was somewhat...okay, actually quite hilarious, to see a man built like barbarian waving a white flag as they surrendered as the Protectorate heroes showed up. I didn't even have to do anything, just sat on a rooftop overhead with Lisa.

I flicked her a glance, and she looked smug.

"You called ahead, made sure they knew we were coming, huh?" I accused.

She shrugged, a vulpine grin on her face. "Maybe. Bit better than a bloodbath. Plus, I _may_ have taken the opportunity to move some of Coil's liquid assets around. Since he had _such_ a bad retirement plan, I decided to make my own. I can't exactly buy up my own island, but I could buy a nice little mansion of my own. Assuming, of course, that Coil's not playing some long game and all that." Tattletale grimaced. "Can't really relax until I know I'm out from under his thumb for sure. He's probably got something in the works."

I gave Armsmaster a wave as he emerged from the building below. He gave me an acknowledging nod, pushing a group of mercenaries into a waiting police van.

I shrugged, looking to Tattletale. "Well then. Since you're not likely to be safe at the PRT, you're coming to my place." I held up a finger as she opened her mouth. "It _doesn't_ mean you're scot-free of anything they might want you for. I'm not about to burn my bridges with the Protectorate for you. Just for now, you're in my custody. They ask where you are, I'll be honest. I just won't let anyone get to you alone."

She sighed and nodded slowly. "Still don't like it. You're really on this law-and-order thing, huh?"

I grimaced. "I'll go around it to get something done if it needs to be done. But what I've found? Most people are just trying to get by. They're not good, not evil, just...normal, wrapped up in their own issues. It's easy to do that. People who do terrible things do so because it's become a habit. It becomes their 'normal' so they don't even think about it. From the outside, though, you don't see the reasons. You just see the actions. Or lack of them. Even the worst of us have good parts, even if they're smothered beneath the veneer of what the person has become. It's just you remember the assholes."

* * *

Now that Castlevania was in the real world, the Shadow Plane had gotten a _bit_ more complicated.

I emerged from a portal in the Shadow Plane, Tattletale right behind me. In front of us was a new Portal Room. Though in this case, it was perhaps more of a Portal highway system. That was the eventual plan, anyway. Hundreds of gates were being crafted by various demons. Most of them were the small, green things.

I wanted to call them gremlins, but these guys actually _built_ things instead of wrecking them. Still, the resemblance was uncanny.

One came up to me, almost dancing. He bowed and scraped on the ground, his floppy ears twitching. "Mistress! Thirty portal gates are set up, Mistress! Does this mean Bonegnasher gets a reward, Mistress?"

I chuckled. These guys were oddly cute, in a terrifying if off the leash way. "Good. Keep it going, and your crew's going to get the first set of electronics I manage to get set up here."

The little (screw it, I'm calling them such) gremlin cackled and ran off, almost immediately being swarmed by his clan-mates.

Tattletale cleared her throat. "So...what's the plan with this setup?"

I chuckled. "Rather simple. Since Leviathan's showed up, shipping's down. Whenever he hits a major coastal city, the waves cause damage even hundreds of miles away, and the infrastructure for major shipping's been whittled down. Not dead yet, but it's pretty damn rough as it is. It's the reason we've got the Ship Graveyard. So in the near future, I'm going to be using the Shadow Plane as a shortcut and open up the market. Need to get your goods from Los Angeles to Paris? Take a fixed portal in LA, drive through here, take the Paris exit and be there in about half an hour." I shrugged. "Going to help a lot when I start sending out custom-made weapons and armor, too."

Tattletale blinked slowly. "That's...both mundane and diabolical. I half expected you to take over the world."

I grinned. "Yep. And I am. Sorta. But I'm patient. Primarily, I'm pushing to make sure there _is_ a world to save. Behemoth and Leviathan are out there, doing damage. Even if we kill them, the damage they do could be catastrophic." I looked at her piercingly."How much was the Simurgh holding back when we killed her?"

She grimaced visibly, even through her mask. "A lot. I think she was barely fighting. At all. Most of what she was doing was aimed toward getting everything aimed at her core. Not sure where the cores on the other two might be, I'd have to look at them taking damage to figure it out."

I nodded. "And yet, we can't assume that they'll hold back when they show up next. It'll be nice if they _do,_ I certainly won't complain. But I'm going to assume that Behemoth can summon volcanoes on the battlefield if he feels like it."

She tilted her head. "...he can do that? You know he can do that. How?"

I glared at her. "Long. Story. Maybe I'll tell it to you in a hundred years."

Her mouth opened, then shut. She rubbed her temples. "You're mean."

I shrugged. "I've been annoyed lately."

* * *

I floated above Brockton Bay, slowly descending down toward the Dallon's house. I didn't bother with leaving my demonic shape. There was a fair bit of buzz about me and them on the PHO boards.

One of the funnier bits of speculation was that I'd sought New Wave out to get an education on this world. A bit _less_ funny was the speculation that I was planning on taking Vicky as a bride.

 _She is strong, smart, and full of life. She would be an excellent third bride._

...third? I haven't even taken a first!

...oh. Right.

I sucked in a deep breath, and very slowly let it out, letting my irritation go with it. Knowing it wasn't _exactly_ Dracul's thoughts in my head, but his...pattern of thinking that bled into his power, helped a lot. That the suggestions that flowed from that pattern of thinking usually ended up toward bloodthirsty things was almost easy to deal with at this point.

Some other stuff? Not so much.

I knocked on the door. Waited a moment, then knocked again.

I heard bounding footsteps, and then it opened. Vicky smiled. "Hey Red. Glad you could come by. Just about ready to go here."

I returned the smile. "Hey Vicky. Castle's waiting for you."

A voice butt in from behind. "Oh my god! It's you! You're here, right here! I would have expected you to be locked away with about a million diplomats or something!"

I turned around, my wings flaring a bit. There was a young girl there, maybe seventeen at the oldest. She had dark hair with a red streak going through it. She was bouncing up and down on her feet, grinning with excitement.

She spoke rapid-fire. "Oh my god, the Endkiller, right here. I thought you might come by, but I wasn't sure, and hot-damn, I got lucky!" Her voice was a bit grating, and I couldn't quite place her accent. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a notepad and a pen. "Can I get your autograph?"

I blinked.

Vicky laughed. "Congrats Red. You've got a fan."

I rubbed my face, managing to plaster on a smile and took the pad and pen. "Sure. Who do I sign it to?"

The girl smiled. "Cherry. My..uh, parents were hippies."

Ouch.

I shrugged and signed. _To my first fan, Cherry, Scarlet Dragon._

I handed them back. She froze for a moment as her hand touched mine, then she shook herself. "Thanks _so_ much. I've gotta run, but _thanks!"_

Cherry literally ran off. I looked to Vicky.

Vicky burst into giggles. "Well, Red, you'll get used to it."

I rolled my eyes. "For that, we're going to Castlevania the hard way."

Vicky grinned. "Fine by me. Race ya!" She rocketed off into the sky.

I crouched for a moment, gathered my power, and burst off the ground, racing after Vicky. I couldn't help but grin like a maniac.

 _Flying is awesome._


	57. Interlude: PHO, Dragon

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 **Topic: Interdimensional Refugees  
In: Boards ► News ► Events**

 **Asheram (Original Poster)** (Cape Groupie)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:

As most of you know, early this morning a new floating landmass was discovered two hundred and fifty miles (400 kilometers) off the eastern coast of the United States of America.

A few minutes ago, at 7:30am (EST), Alexandria of the Triumvirate confirmed in _This_ press conference that this new island belonged to no other than the Scarlet Dragon(!), the slayer of the Simurgh, and housed interdimensional refugees(!?).

We've known about Earth Aleph for some time but this is the first official proof that there are other Earths out there with parahumans, and more notably, parahumans that can match the power of the Triumvirate.

To make matters more interesting, the press conference mentioned, and I quote, "an alternate Earth that had been destroyed by local equivalents of Endbringers".

Now I don't have any issue with refugees, especially when they bring their home with them, but more Endbringers?! Shouldn't we be more concerned about this?

 **Randomwriter** (Wiki Warrior)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:  
Is it SERIOUSLY floating on its own landmass? How is that... I don't even... Where did it come from? And don't tell me 'Another Earth' because this is INSANE.

 **GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:  
Does anyone know what the hell is going on? First the Smurf bites the dust (by two Dragons at that!) and now there is a God forsaken CASTLE floating in the middle of the ocean. I know that when capes are involved in something it's better to throw your disbelief out of the window but seriously what the hell.

If someone has any kind of information that they can share in regards of this please share it with us.

Sometimes I wish I was in Earth Aleph instead, at least they don't have to deal with this kind of insanity.

 **Boojum** (Verified Not A Snark)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:  
Re:Asheram: I shouldn't think so. Their world died, and that's something we can barely hope to understand, these are the bastards who were tough, lucky and\or smart enough to make it out. They've already shown that with a place to stand they can help kill Endbringers. I think they would be more than willing to help us fight anything that follows them, and maybe make our own floating interdimensional castles if there's a need. Remember, the Simurgh was the one fucking with space flight, I bet there's a bunch of Tinkers getting busy right now!

 **Randomwriter** (Wiki Warrior)  
Posted on May 24, 2011

So wait, these guys came an earth that were destroyed by endbringers right? Then why did they get involved in OUR endbringer fight? If I was them I would high tailed it when I saw another earth filled with MORE endbringers. They must have had some serious confidence in us to team up like they did. That or were way desperate.

 **Asheram** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on may 24, 2011:  
Boojum  
Call me paranoid but I'm still concerned about the fact that there are Endbringers out there that might show up on our doorstep some day.

Randomwriter  
I'd wager that they were desperate. If Scarlet Dragon came first to establish diplomatic relations and a safe landing zone for a floating island then I reckon the Endbringer that could fly would be a bit of a dealbreaker.

GARcher  
Well, someone missed the broadcast. I thought everyone knew already.

 **GARcher (** The Guy Not In The Know)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:  
Re:Asheram  
Well, someone broke my TV when the Butcher hurled a hero through my wall. Again, I wish I was on Aleph. You can actually afford your hero insurance there.

 **Boojum** (Verified Not A Snark)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:

Asheram: Any sensible person should continue to be concerned. What I'm saying is we now have proven Endkillers, a bunch of new people with lots of experience and a new perspective, and new escape routes if the worst happens. We're better off then we were a week ago, yeah? I'm gonna go start building a castle, in case the interdimensional floaty drive goes open-source..

 **TRJ**  
Replied on may 24, 2011:  
About the refugees.  
Scarlet Dragon is a teenager with red skin, white hair and draconic wings. I know that this might be a stretch but that girl looks like a Case 53 to me. If the rest of the island is filled with similar looking people, do we finally have an answer to where the Case 53's come from?

 **GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:  
The hell is wrong with that woman, first she decides that Lung wasn't doing a good enough job as a dragon and shows how it's done by offing zis and now she outs herself as the leader of a group from another world, next thing you know she will be revealing that she was the Godess of said World or something of the sort.

 **Mock Moniker**  
Replied on maj 24, 2011:  
TRJ  
Doubtful, one person is a bad representation of an entire group.

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **52** **,** **53** **,** **54**

 **(Showing Page 2 of 54)**

 **Mr. Badfella**  
Replied May 24. 2011  
Mock Moniker I don't know. There might be something to that. I mean envoys ARE meant to represent entire nations right? And the other inhabitants of the castle DO look like monsters... Even if they DO look attractive.

 **Pedal to the Metal**  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Checked a few pictures from there with a few of the other taxi drivers over lunch break. Stone towers, gothic architecture, HUMONGOUS castle. Are we talking R'lyeh rising, Atlantis or some other wizards flying medieval fortress-city? And about that... Anyone happen to know where Myrddin is right now? You all know he would do this if he could.

 **GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Myrddin? He's got to be kicking himself, wishing he pulled this first. Seriously, I would not be surprised at all if SD showed up next week to say 'Oh, by the way, I'm the god of dragons, too. Just because I don't have enough titles.'

 **Damsel_In_Distress** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
GARcher: Do you think she might want a new priestess?

 **Ni**  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
An angel eaten by dragons,  
Bloodied feathers floating slowly in the wind,  
Leviathan pictures bought then burned

 **Winged_One**  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Ni  
I do believe you are stealing my job.  
On another note, I'm feeling much better. Thank you. I'm glad the whole thing with the Simurgh is over and done with.

For old time's sake:  
Alas, though fate itself may twist and bend,  
The world shifts against our will,  
Our souls we struggle to mend,  
And mortals are still a terrible shill.

 **GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Winged_One  
Glad to see you back, Winged!  
Told you guys she wasn't the Simurgh. That was crazy-talk.

Edit: Also...when did I get this tag?

 **xXVoid_CowboyXx** (Temp-Banned)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Hey, wait a minute! I think I know her, she looks just like [REST OF POST DELETED BY MODERATOR]

[User has received an infraction for this post: Speculation on public identity of a cape.]

 **TheHuntress** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Not cool, Cowboy, seriously not cool.

 **Tin Mother (Moderator)**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
*Sigh...* Enjoy your week long ban again, Void Cowboy.

 **End of Page.** **1** **, 2,** **3** **,** **4** **...** **52** **,** **53** **,** **54**

 **Topic: Scarlet Knight/Dragon's ratings?  
In: Boards ► Heroes ► Global ► Trumps**

 **QuestNecro** (Original Poster)  
Posted on May 25, 2011:

Now that Scarlet Dragon has summoned a bloody country and killed an end bringer what do you think her ratings are going to be?

Seriously. I've been checking up on her since all this went down, and while I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things, this in insane. Like, all my food is now LSD insane.

What do we know she can do?

 **(Showing Page 1 of 35)**

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
I'm leaning towards Bullshit 10, at this point. When they were handing out powers, it's like this girl just grabbed three or four armloads.

If she raised Atlantis tomorrow, I don't think I'd be surprised.

 **Program6**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Isn't 10 a bit low, didn't she kill an endbringer and commands an army of giant steel golems?

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Program6 - It's not like it won't go up, I'm sure.

 **Darkflame_Doge**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Bullshit 10? Isn't that Eidolon's rating?

Hell, since SD and Dragon actually killed the Simurgh it's more like Bullshit Yes.

Speaking of, what happen to Eidolon anyway? He wasn't with Alexandria and Legend when they went to check out SD's castle, right?

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Darkflame_Doge We don't know if Eidolon was at the magical floating island (never thought I'd type that) or not. Bullshit 10 means you're only visible if you want to be. And yeah, 'Bullshit Yes' seems about right for Scarlet Dragon, and Dragon too for that matter. It's pretty obvious that some weird shit went down in that fight.

 **Synagoogly**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Weird doesn't even begin to describe what happened up in Vancouver. Hell, if Scarlet Knight and Dragon didn't evolve when they did who knows what would've happened...

I'm a bit envious of everyone that got to actually see the fight though. Pictures and short videos just don't do it any justice!

 **IrateIrishman**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
And now Scarlet Knight is not only a Dragon, but has her own castle, which she probably willed into existance, 'cause Power Bullshit. And she's from where? Brockton Bay, or something? Glad I'm way up here in Maine, because I get the feeling she might decide to clean house soon. Have fun, ya Nazi bastards.

Also. Scarlet Dragon Rating: YES

 **Jack Skellington**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
Here's my theory. The PRT are just going to say 'SD no longer has a rating. She is SD. That is all.'

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **33** **,** **34** **,** **35**

 **(Showing Page 2 of 35)**

 **Blackflame_Doge**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
You know...since she's a Dragon and all now do you think she accepts virgin tributes? I mean she's pretty much ticked the list for all of the Proper Dragon requirements since she got her own castle and all.

I personally wouldn't mind offering myself up to the sexy demon lady. Probably the safest place to be anyway.

IrateIrishman It's actually Bullshit YES. The Twin Dragon Sisters made their own rating after beating the Simurgh.

..and mid- to late- 20th century geopolitics still has absolutely nothing to do with Slenderman. How the hell did we get here anyways?

 **User has gained an infraction for this post.**

 **[Tin Mother (Moderator): Watch it. You suggested something against the Terms of Service.]**

 **Follower of scarlet** (Banned)  
Posted May 25, 2011

The time has come. A new great power has come to our dimension. It is well known that such travel is both difficult and ardous. To make such travel possible then the Scarlet Dragon must be truly powerful. With her majestic appearance and that of her followers it is of little doubt that she is more than just a mere cape or even JUST a dragon. She can be nothing less than a goddess that chooses to grace our dimension with her presence and is generous enough to lend us aid against our mightiest foes.

As such we much repay her in a way a goddess would see fit. This is a call for volunteers, virgins to serve upon the lady's behalf. Do not be afraid. For the lady Scarlet Dragon has shown to be a kind goddess.

 **Truckerman 69** (Banned)  
Posted May 25, 2011

Hey don't worry ladies. If you don't want to be qualified, I'll help you out. *wink wink*

 **Follower of scarlet** (Banned)  
Posted May 25, 2011  
Truckerman 69: Begone pig. We do not need you here. Besides these are sacrifice to a godDESS. We will need Virgin men to serve our merciful lady and her followers.

 **Truckerman 69** (Banned)  
Posted May 25, 2011  
Follower: PPFFFFFT! Virgin men. Real men aren't virgins. And if you think you can find volunteers like that you either ARE a prissy little with no luck, or a bra burning man hater with a thing for little boys.

 **Tin Mother** (Moderator)  
Posted May 25, 2011  
Goodbye. You two may feel free to grace many dark places in the internet, but it will not be here.

I will not condone calls for indentured servitude or abusive behavior. Seriously. Bye.

 **Blackflame_Doge**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
...what have I unleashed? Sorry. Um...I'm just going to be over here. *backs into lurk mode carefully*

 **Bringing down the house**  
Replied on May 25, 2011:  
I don't even... I... This must be against the terms of service to such an degree it isn't even funny anymore.

Edit: Moderator beat me to it. Wow. Just wow.

 **Second follower of scarlet** (Banned)  
Replied May 25, 2011  
Bringing down the house I do not see the problem. I am merely asking for those of pure body, if not pure in mind, to come and serve the dark lady in any way that she sees fit, or needs. Any who wish to answer this call will be treated like an indebted servant, not a sacrificial lamb. I'm sure the lady goddess would be most insulted if anyone came to her domain expecting to be slaughtered and eaten.

And for any of you young ladies who wish to answer the goddess' call to be afraid. I doubt she would turn you away.

 **Tin Mother** (Moderator)  
Posted May 25, 2011  
Making second accounts to get around the ban is itself a bannable offense. Congratulations. Your IP is now blocked. Any more of this and the thread locks.

 **End of Page.** **1** **, 2,** **3** **,** **4** **,** **5** **...** **33** **,** **34** **,** **35**

 **(Showing Page 3 of 35)**

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
Well, now that's out of the way...

IrateIrishman Kaiser got to watch Scarlet Dragon chew on an Enbringer's head. If he's smart, he'll make nice. Unless he wants to get eaten.

 **Agoraphobic**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
Why does no one forces on the giant metal doom giants!

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied May 24, 2011  
Agoraphobic WTF are you talking about?

 **Agoraphobic**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
SkipDaddy, I'm talking about the giant metal things that Crimson Knight pulled out during the fight!

 **Sergeant_Vulcan25**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
SkipDaddy Well I don't know about you, but I personally wouldn't mind it if Kaiser pokes the dragon.

Deep fried Nazi anyone?

Agoraphobic It's Scarlet Dragon. And I don't really know what happened to them. I wouldn't worry about them too much though, since they looked like they were on our side during the Enbringer battle.

Maybe Scarlet Dragon has a projection power too or something. Why not? She's got everything else.

 **SkipDaddy**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
Agoraphobic I got that. It's the usage of the word "forces" that I'm trying to figure out. Did you mean "focus"?

 **Agoraphobic**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
SkipDaddy said:

[ Agoraphobic I got that. It's the usage of the word "forces" that I'm trying to figure out. Did you mean "focus"?]  
*Checks previous post* yep.

 **IrateIrishman**  
Replied May 25, 2011  
All I know is, if she can do that to an Endbringer, the S9 are a valid next target. Pretty sure they could do with getting murderized in a curbstomp battle for a change. Who knows, it might be a nice change of pace.

Oi, Protecterate, PRT! I know you're listening! Unleash the Dragons!

Not Lung, though. He can rot.

No, seriously, fuck that lazy bastard. Couldn't even get off his ass to fight the Endbringers. Our new dragons are much better. And on our side, even!

 **End of Page.** **1** **,** **2** **, 3,** **4** **,** **5** **...** **33** **,** **34** **,** **35**

 **Topic: The Dragon's New Suit. Also, branding advice!  
In: Boards ► Heroes ► Canada ► Tinkers**

 **Boojum** (Original Poster) (Verified Not A Snark)  
Posted on May 24, 2011:

Okay, what is up with Dragon's new suit?

From footage:  
Pimpin' gold theme  
Bipedal locomotion  
Regeneration (on a mech, no less!)  
Teleportation(!)  
Flight  
Arm launched blue beam that rates at least half a Simurgh-Fucker. (Scarlet Dragon has the other half.)

I will pay folding money for an action figure.

The other thing is, it looks kinda like dragon-power is the way to go with endbbringers. Lung can throw down with Leviathan, and we all know what happened to the Simurgh. But Dragoon is Dragon. Should she take up a descriptive name change to stand out from the crowd? I kinda like Golden Dragon myself.

 **(Showing Page 1 of 1)**

 **TRJ**  
Replied on May 24, 2011:

Branding is serious business among capes and has always been on a first come, first serve basis. It is unfortunate but it's well known among the cape community that there are only so many good names out there and no one should be forced to change their name due to someone else picking a similar one.

Dragon was the first one with that name and has earned it with her years of heroics.

 **Dragon** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Yes, I have.

However, given recent experiences, I may decide to change things up a bit. However, that may be a while off.

 **Boojum** (Original Poster)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
...did Dragon just reply to my thread?

Holy crap, she did.

Anyway, seriously, that's one hell of a suit you built. One seven foot tall package of badassery. Glad you brought it out and finished off the Simurgh.

 **Dragon** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Thank you.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use this technology previously against the Simurgh or the other Endbringers. What happened in Vancouver was a result of a recent breakthrough, combined with a rather hasty rush-job. Thankfully, it paid off.

The technology in my latest suit is still somewhat untested, but some of the best Thinkers around are collaborating with me on fixing the issues and drawbacks. Hopefully, some of the recent discoveries I've made in working out its principles should greatly assist in the future.

 **Boojum** (Original Poster)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Okay, so this may be a little off-topic, then, but...what's going on with:

Are the Simurgh bombs now disarmed?  
When can we un-quarantine cities?  
Are any Tinkers going to get their space on?

 **Asheram** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Boojum  
Took me a while to figure out what you meant with Simugh Bomb. Anyhow.

First of all, it wouldn't surprise me at all if we saw the Simurgh show up again in a month or two, I've seen far too much powers bullshit to not suspect that it's all just to lull us into a false sense of security.

Second: Simurgh is Extra bullshit and even if she truly is gone we ought to prepare for something happening in the quarantine zones any day now as a going away present.

Third: Oh yes, please, I had almost given up hope on space exploration once She showed up. I bet Dragon (Original Dragon, that is.) is already preparing something new.

 **Dragon** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
Oh, I've got a few things in mind.

Can't talk about them much, as they're still on the drawing board. We need to proceed with caution, especially given things the Simurgh is involved with.

Sorry I can't share more. Classified.

 **Boojum** (Original Poster) (Verified Not A Snark)  
Replied on May 24, 2011:  
And the government strikes again. Well, thanks. You and SD did the impossible. Thanks.

 **End of Page. 1**

* * *

Dragon turned her attention away from the PHO boards. Not that it took up _much_ of her attention, she could run the moderation duties on there with only the slightest bit of effort. Running as automatically as a human's heartbeat.

There was a fair bit of a backlog for Dragon to get through. Even for the speed she thought at, it didn't take all that long to get back on top of things, and the needed systems were fairly simple to run. But there were still limitations, and getting through everything took a while. For the most part, she felt pretty satisfied. The Dragonslayers were in custody, and while she was tempted to send Saint and his cohorts to the Birdcage, she was privately forced to admit they likely didn't deserve to go there. For all the trouble they caused her, and had killed several iterations of her, they hadn't acted in such a way that threatened anyone else.

What she was most mad about was that they hadn't even _tried_ to explain what they were doing. Instead, because of all the resources she had to spend on keeping an eye out for Saint, she had less time and resources toward more important things, such as Sleeper and the Endbringers. They could have even used the suits they'd stolen to help people. Instead, they used them for monetary gain.

Still, now there were two things on her to-do list. Finding a way to get Canary out of the Birdcage, along with the other innocent inmates, and tracking down who attempted to hack into the PRT files on Scarlet Knight/Dragon. The latter was low-priority. Hackers tried it all the time. What was concerning was that they managed to penetrate the first three layers of protection before her adaptive firewall program stopped the hack. Not too many non-Thinkers would be able to get that far. It was a lot easier to get in by stealing access from actual personnel.

Still, it raised her interest. She wouldn't have been able to trace things back to Wallerton if it wasn't for her rather unique resources. The attempt had been re-routed through seven different network hubs, a trail left by the hacker that crossed three continents and snaked through at least fifty computers. It was the very elaborateness of the attempt to make the trail hard to find that peaked her interest.

So she began digitally probing Wallerton, Ohio. Or rather, attempted to probe. The town wasn't much of a town, really. One hundred and fifty-three people was the official population count. It had one gas station and a small market for food. Still, despite all that, there should have been _something_ electronic in the area she could poke to get information out of. It may have been a small town, but internet was still fairly cheap. But there was nothing.

So Dragon tasked a satellite to get an image of the town. It took time, but eventually she got an image of the town with a weather satellite.

...and that was a lot of smoke.

If Dragon had been in her human form at the moment, she'd have had a sinking feeling in her gut.

She did what she could to sift through the data. Filters were used, images were digitally cleaned. It didn't help much with what was apparently burning houses, but she could see the streets of the small town, now.

There were cars everywhere, piled up in places. What looked like a blockade of them had been smashed through by something else, perhaps a semi or an eighteen-wheeler truck.

She wasted no time in launching a Cawthorne suit to investigate the town. While she couldn't 'possess' a given suit anymore, it was simple enough to guide it. It just meant she wasn't thinking with the suit's own hardware anymore. She wasn't sure if she actually _needed_ hardware of any kind just now.

The Cawthorne suit arrived within twenty minutes. A near-eternity by her standards. When it landed and took in the sight, Dragon could not help but pause in disturbed horror.

Bodies were everywhere. Men, women, children. The pavement was stained with blood, and fires raged, consuming house after house. Wallterton's single fire station was, itself, on fire, and everywhere there was evidence of sheer, destructive carnage. The only place that seemed spared from the flame was a lone hotel.

In front of it lay the remains of a man, with the distinctive marks of someone who had been dismembered, hunks of flesh showing where the corpse had been chewed on. It was simple to find it was no animal that did this. Human teethmarks. Size and shape indicating an adult female.

The final clue was the remnants of what had likely been a family, the remnants of Tinker-made cybernetics fusing them together, their flesh melted by some powerful corrosive. And the monstrosity was still writhing.

The Siberian and Crawler. The fires were likely Burnscar's work. The family was Bonesaw's. The Slaughterhouse Nine had hit Wallteron, and someone in Wallerton was looking into Taylor's files.

Great.


	58. Family 6-5

It was fun, racing with Vicky. With everything that happened, I didn't often get the chance to relax and have fun. It was so very nice to have friends. I'd actually forgotten what it was like.

I poured on the speed, slowly catching up with Vicky as we flew toward Castlevania together. She was already moving at supersonic speeds. I grinned as I managed to break though the sound barrier myself, my form cutting through the air.

Even with the high speeds we were going, it took a while to reach the castle, though thankfully not that long. Two hundred and fifty miles was eaten away rather quickly at the speeds we could manage. It took just over fifteen minutes for us to get there.

Best of all...I felt I could go faster. A lot faster. I know Dracul had during his fight with the Abomination that killed his world, though he hadn't exactly had to the time to carefully measure how quickly he was moving during his last battle. I certainly wouldn't be able to move this fast near the ground, because the sonic booms would probably do a fair bit of damage. Maybe. I...actually had no idea, but I wasn't risking it out of controlled circumstances. Unless I could cheat my way around that, too.

Note to self: See how much I can cheat.

Still, though I could have caught up, I let Vicky _just_ beat me to the castle. She did a little victory spin in mid-air at the doors to my throne room, and I couldn't help but smile as I set myself down in front of her.

"Yesss!" She grinned, raising her arms. "Still the best!"

I chuckled. "Pretty good, all right. You practice at flying around like that?" I slipped past her and pushed open the doors, sighing a little in relief as the sunlight no longer touched me. Deadly? No. Irritating? Yes.

Vicky landed on the ground, walking along behind me. "Yeah. It's the best thing about my power. Seriously. I like the rest of what I can do, but I love being able to fly. I'm sure you get it, now that you can do the same thing." She clucked her tongue. "Not exactly complaining, but how long are you going to be pulling new abilities out of your butt?"

I stopped, turned, and gave her a playful thump on the shoulder. "Until I get bored of doing that."

Vicky shook her head, grinning. "Please. You'll never get bored of that."

I returned the grin. "Precisely!"

We shared a laugh. I went and took my throne and settled in. I called out to the empty room. "Death, could you please inform Meridia and Amy that Vicky and I are waiting for them in the throne room?"

Vicky looked around, raising an eyebrow. "Uh...he's not here, is he?"

I chuckled. "He's able to hear me from anywhere in Castlevania, Vicky. Though I plan on modernizing the place a bit. Well, a lot."

The castle seemed to rumble a little in my ear. I rolled my eyes and raised my voice. "You'll like it, trust me. I'm not getting rid of anything special, just getting new stuff."

A wave of reluctance, then acceptance.

Well, I'd definitely take steps to maintain the theme of the place. Castlevania was a living thing, and I wasn't about to change her in ways she wouldn't like.

Vicky just shook her head. "Like I said before, Red. Your power's bullshit."

I grinned.

We didn't wait long before Meridia arrived from a side corridor (which made sense, with the sun out), with Amy a moment later. The younger Dallon was wearing a dark red suit that seemed to drink in the light, a simple, featureless helmet in her hand. I gave Amy a smile, and laughed softly as she rushed into the room, hugging Vicky tightly.

Meridia chuckled. "Welcome back, My Lady. Your childe is settling in quite well."

Vicky stood stock still, then she managed to gasp out. "Ames, air!"

Amy released her, her face filled with concern. "Oh, god, did I hurt you?"

Vicky laughed, giving Amy a hug in return. "Nah, teasing you. Invincible, remember?"

Amy squirmed out of the hug, frowned, then smacked her sister across the shoulder. Vicky just grinned unrepentantly.

Meridia doubled over, trying not to laugh.

I shook my head with a smile. "Well, glad to see everyone's doing so well." I looked to Meridia, giving her a nod. "You and I are going to get to work on getting this place setup, Meridia. You know more about what the castle needs, and I know more about what's available." I frowned a little. "We're going to need some things in bulk, so we're going to talk with the Protectorate about it." I held up a finger as Meridia opened her mouth. "And _no,_ you're not going to get free reign on the adult stuff until _after_ the work's done."

She pouted, but her eyes were filled with satisfaction. "Yes, My Lady."

Vicky spoke then, her tone filled with curiosity. "Where's Al?"

I smiled. "We're going to meet up with him at the Rig. Apparently, he and Armsmaster are working on something." I frowned a little as I looked at Amy. "We're going to need to do something about your face. Considering everyone thinks you're dead..."

Amy smiled. "Got a plan for that, too." She concentrated, and her body shifted and changed. After a few moments, there stood a younger-looking, red haired Meridia. Minus the bat wings.

The succubus smiled. "Always wanted a daughter. You can do so many naughty things with-"

I stood from my throne. "Meridia!"

And the Dallon sisters' faces were nearly as red as my own right now. Meridia just laughed. "Forgive me, My Lady. I could not resist."

* * *

Once night fell at Brockton Bay, I used a portal at Castlevania to enter the Shadow Plane, and from there took another portal to reach the city itself. The four of us took a moment to enjoy the night air.

And almost immediately, my phone began to ring. I grumbled a little and took it out. "Hello?"

" _Scarlet! Thank god."_

I blinked. "Dragon? Something wrong?"

" _Finally! Your castle doesn't have any reception! I have reason to believe the Slaughterhouse Nine are after you. Is everything alright?"_

 _They are beneath me._

 **I KNOW.** Enough already! How many times must that little bit of thought come from the back of my head!? I took a deep breath and grit my teeth. "Lovely. That's just what I needed. Anything planned?"

Dragon sounded serious. _"_ _I've got a few ideas. Get to the Rig. We need everyone on board. I'm already there. You mind if I set up a temporary cell tower at the castle? Already got a suit heading there to try and make contact."_

"Yeah, actually, that was one of the things on my to-do list today." I nodded to myself. "Be there in a few." I hung up and looked to my companions. "Change of plans. We're all heading to the Rig."

Vicky frowned. "What's going on, Red?"

I grimaced. "The Slaughterhouse Nine."

Meridia tilted her head. "Who?"

* * *

"The Slaughterhouse Nine." Armsmaster spoke. "The longest-running S-class threat in North America. They're a band of serial killers. They formed at some point in the late eighties. Of the original known members, only one remains."

I stood with Meridia, Vicky, Amy, and Alucard toward the back. Dragon stood up at the front of the Rig's briefing room, her golden suit shining a little, despite the relatively dark room. Armsmaster stood and lectured with a serious, grave tone. The Protectorate members, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, Velocity and Dauntless, sat and listened. For them, this wasn't strictly necessary, but it was best they got the most up to date information. The Protectorate members were taking this mostly in stride. The only exception was Triumph, whose fingers were tightly wound around the armrests of his chair.

The Wards, on the other hand, were looking nervous. Aegis looked like he was trying to put on a good front, but his stance was tense. Clockblocker sat ramrod straight in his chair, his usual joking manner entirely on hold. If I could see his face, I'm pretty sure it would be pale with fear. Vista's body language was filled with terror. Gallant seemed to have his attention fully on Armsmaster, though I could see him fidgeting with his hands. Kid Win was still.

And Madison... _Paladin_ was calm. Her whip was coiled at her side, and while I could see some nervousness in her body language, she was a lot more calm than the other Wards. Probably because of the memories in her head.

 _A Belmont must be unshakable, for a Belmont faces the nightmares of men._

Gee, thanks Dracul. So very helpful. Going to tell me that water is wet, next?

Armsmaster looked around the room for a moment, then continued, flicking a button on the projector controls. An older-style photo appeared on the wall behind him, a grinning pale young man with a bowie knife in one hand and a razor in the other. "The longest-living member of the Nine, Jack Slash was with the group when they first appeared. His power allows him to cut things with any bladed object at range. No known limit to his range, although the sharpness of his blades _is_ a limit. Sufficiently strong armor or thick enough cover will keep one of his attacks from injuring you. His power is likely the _weakest_ of the Nine, but don't be fooled. He's still alive after twenty years of having a kill order on his head, and he's well-known for leveraging advantages when he can. Best thing to do is take him out on sight. Easier said than done."

He clicked the button, and the next picture popped up. This picture was grainy, taken from a long distance. A figure all in white, blades and protrusions emerging from places. "Mannequin, formerly Alan Gramme. He's the one we've got the most data on. He's a Tinker, specializes in enclosed environments. He was working with world governments for building a moon base, long-term space stations, and extra-planetary colonies when the Simurgh appeared. His family was killed, and he turned himself into this." He gestured at the screen. "His body is a life-support system, completely enclosed. His vital organs are entirely protected, and he prefers to use bladed weapons, though he also uses whatever's appropriate. It's known he's used poisons in the past. His 'body' is able to detach portions of itself, connected by chains only. That means he can get through narrow spaces, such as air ducts that would be too small for a human to get through normally. Take him on at range if possible."

Armsmaster grimaced. "Unfortunately, things get worse from here." He flicked to the next slide.

A grinning blonde child, maybe seven years old. Her hands were covered in blood. "Bonesaw. A bio-Tinker, she's capable of doing horrific things. She's able to heal injuries, reanimate dead tissue, create constructs out of corpses...the list goes on. The Nine were always dangerous, but they became far, far more troublesome when Bonesaw joined. Thinkers suspect she gives upgrades to the members of the Nine, so they're a lot harder to kill. Their losses dropped while their victim count rose. We also suspect that upon her death, plagues would be released. Priority is containment if possible." Armsmaster looked at me.

I gave him a nod. "Doable. Dragon?"

A low chuckle came from Dragon. "I think I can handle that, too."

The tension in the room eased somewhat.

Armsmaster turned back to the screen. Click. A severe looking Middle-Eastern woman, floating in the air, covered and surrounded by shards of glass. "Shatterbird. She controls silicates with a form of telekinesis. One of the Nine's favorite tricks is to announce their presence in a city by letting her scream. Her power races outward in a wave, and every object with glass in it will shatter, the shards flying at any targets nearby. This also has the effect of destroying any electronics with microchips, which makes it difficult for an attacked city to respond. Of them, Shatterbird is likely the one to have caused the most deaths. Still, it's believed she's one of the softer targets. Make sure you have no silicon on you if you engage. Those of you who _do_ have silicon in your gear, we're working on Tinkertech replacements as we speak."

I frowned. Well, it was unlikely my phone would kill me, but it would certainly make it more difficult for me to keep in contact with anyone with it busted.

Click. A monstrous, inhuman green thing. It was larger than the van it stood near, gripping it with insectoid legs. Acid dripped from a fanged maw near the creature's front, which was dissolving the van's roof. It looked like a monstrously overgrown cockroach. "Crawler. His power is theorized to be adaptive regeneration. Anything that harms him, he grows more resistant to as he heals. Over the years he's taken so much damage that his body's become...this. We don't know of any method that can kill him at this point, all we have are some theories. Trouble is, if we try and _fail,_ he'll be harder to kill on the next attempt."

Click. A seven foot tall giant of a man, wearing a bloodstained mask, hatchet in his hand. "Hatchet Face. He's stronger and more resilient than he looks, a relatively low Brute rating. However, he disables Parahuman powers within approximately twenty feet of himself. If he gets close to you, you lose your powers and he can easily kill you. If you must engage, do so from range, use ordinance, technology, and the environment."

Click. A brunette pale woman standing in a field of fire, her hands burning. "Burnscar. Pyrokinetic and teleporter. She escaped from an asylum meant to handle unstable Parahumans and joined the Nine. She's incapable of flight, thankfully, but she's able to teleport using her flames. She tends to 'ramp up' during combat. Start with a small flame, then she gets more and more unrestrained as the fires spread. Unfortunately, cryokinetics tend to be fairly rare, so it's difficult to counter her. Best strategy available at the moment is to be outfitted with containment foam and firefighting equipment." His lips turned to a frown. "If Neptune were here, he would have been our best bet against her."

The room was silent for a moment at that. Officially, everyone in the room was hoping the hydrokinetic would reappear, but...

Well, the chances of that were growing slimmer by the day.

Armsmaster shook his head and brought up the next photo. Everyone knew this one, by reputation if nothing else. A woman, completely nude, striped black and white. "The Siberian. She is _the_ Brute. She's able to harm Alexandria, and nothing tried has ever harmed her in return. Siberian's been spotted walking on water and plowing through Tinker-reinforced concrete. If spotted, do not engage under any circumstances. The best you can hope for is to escape. If she has a weakness, it has not been ascertained yet." He looked around the room. "Some of you are fliers. Do not think just because she doesn't fly that means you can stay back and attack. We know she can leap over tall buildings and she has _never_ been stopped."

Silence reigned for a moment, then Alucard shifted, his voice piercing the moment. "Is there not a ninth?"

Armsmaster shook his head. "The Nine clashed with Myrddin and the local Protectorate forces in Nebraska, about three months ago. They lost Skinslip during the fight, but they managed to slip away and get back under the radar." His voice turned serious. "They had Bonesaw turn an entire graveyard's worth of bodies into cannon fodder to give them time to run. I know we've all heard horror stories about the Nine, but they _are_ fallible and they _can_ be beaten. Hopefully, we can end them."

Clockblocker's hand shot up. Armsmaster visibly sighed. "Yes?"

His voice was high. "Why are they headed _here?_ "

Dragon spoke then. "We have reason to believe they are targeting Scarlet. Worst-case scenario...they want to recruit her. Considering what we managed to do in Vancouver, and what we have from the profile on Jack and the Nine's usual operations, they'll try to figure out some way to hit her morale. Now, they've never hit someone this high profile before. Hopefully, they'll get spooked and turn away, letting us pick the battleground. But we need to prepare for the possibility that they _won't._ Which means safeguarding ourselves, your families, and as many people as we can."

I nodded. "And sadly, because of all the contact and help I've had here, I highly doubt they're just going to leave the Bay alone if I head to my Castle. I've got some ideas for luring them there, at least they'd be contained and easily dealt with, but I just can't see the S9 happily walking into one of my portals just because I put a sign over it advertising free pie."

A bit of amusement went around the room. Assault spoke then, his tone curious. "Have you tried it? Might get Crawler at least."

Battery smacked his arm.

Dragon chuckled. "If only it were that easy. We're going to try to get their attention in the right way, but until they expose themselves, we're on the back foot. Still, Wallerton's fires were set twelve hours ago. The Nine can't just take a plane, so it's likely that if they're coming here, they're still enroute."

I nodded. "And if they are, I'll see if I can use the Castle's resources to strike at _them_ , first. I managed to get at Bakuda from inside a pocket dimension, I can probably get at them." I tapped my chin. "Highest threat?"

Armsmaster looked at Dragon, then back to me. "I would say Shatterbird. Her power is the longest-range and makes it much simpler for them to hold cities at their mercy. Wallerton was entirely cut off when she destroyed their electronics, making it easy for them to wipe everyone else out. If not for Dragon, we might not have learned of their fate for a week. Maybe more, if circumstances had been unfavorable."

I took a deep breath. "All right. If that's everything?"

The tension in the room relaxed a bit, and everyone got up. Clockblocker came over to us, while Vicky went over and mingled with the rest of the Wards.

He held his hand out to Amy. "Hey, uh...I'm Clockblocker. New around? I'm guessing you're from that awesome flying castle, too, and...well, it's awesome."

Meridia smiled. "Ah, the time-wizard. I am Meridia, and this is my daughter, Amara."

Amy blinked, looking bemused. "Uh...yeah. Good to meet you, too." She frowned as she looked at his hand. "I've heard about your power. You're not about to try and play a prank on me, right?"

He put his hands over his heart. "I would never play a prank upon thee, my fair maiden, for thine beauty has captured my heart, and I would sooner thrust myself upon thine sword than do such a juvenile thing!"

"Liar!" Vista hollered from across the room.

Meridia lifted an eyebrow, looking amused. "Indeed, he is lying." She clucked her tongue. "A pity. I might have enjoyed educating him among the finer things when he came of age." Meridia hooked her arm with Amy's. "Come along, my daughter. We have things to attend to for our Lady."

Amy's face was priceless as she was dragged off, her mouth gaping.

Clockblocker's posture slumped.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I'd better get started." I teleported out of the room, dashed outside, then flew up into the night sky.

And howled with laughter.


	59. Family 6-6

The plan was a go. While the PRT did what they could to spread the word about the Nine coming to the city, I took a quick layover in the Shadow Plane, preparing a space in the emptiness. Far, far away from my slowly-building highway system and refugee center. In time, the center would grow to be a city in its own right, but that would take centuries. At the moment, it was mostly rows upon rows of identical simple bungalows. Not very imaginative, I know, but I was building something that would house millions of people.

If the Abomination killed this world, I wanted a safe enough place for as many people as I could. If I survived the calamity, then I'd see what I could do about finding a new place to live.

If I didn't...then that responsibility would have to go to my successor. I was hedging my bets, here.

Back on the task at hand. I watched as sheer nothingness below me took shape, forming a cube of black metal, ten feet tall, the top of it open to the air. It was a _strain_ to shape the Plane like this. I remembered Dracul forming Castlevania this way, at least to begin with, but he'd either forgotten how much effort it took or he was _just that tough_ in forcing his will on his domain.

I built a portal gate inside the room, near the top. With it being this large, and with nothing inside the cube, my intended prisoner wouldn't likely be able to spring back out before the portal shut behind them. Finally, I formed the top, creating an airtight box.

There we are. Step one.

Step two.

* * *

I emerged in the sky above Brockton Bay. The night air was clear and calm, and the moon was a crescent. The docks district was far below me. After Lung's rampage, much of it was burned, and had yet to be rebuilt. It was rather unlikely it would, considering the lack of shipping industries. Hopefully my plan would help with that, but it wouldn't mean anything if the Nine killed the whole damn city.

But that I was here...was not good. I'd wanted the portal to open up a mile above Shatterbird. If I emerged _here_ , that means she was in the city itself. I quickly took out my phone and dialed Dragon. As soon as the line clicked, I spoke. "They're already here!"

Dragon's voice was clear, calm, only with the slightest hint of worry. _"_ _The Nine?"_

I growled. "I'm right above the docks district right now. I wanted to appear right above Shatterbird, and I'm _here._ "

There was silence on the line for a moment, then Dragon spoke. _"_ _Understood. She's got priority. Then Bonesaw. We don't know what they're planning, so we need to limit the possible damage as fast as we can. I've got your coordinates. Sending backup. Stay on the line."_

"Hurry." I said, and turned myself to get as good a view of the warehouse below as possible. It was difficult to see much, though my vampiric eyes helped with the task. The darkness was an obstacle, but not as badly as it would have been if I were still mortal.

...yeah, my mind was weird. Not much I could do about it, though.

Off in the distance, I could see two figures fly from the Rig. As they neared, I recognized them as Dauntless and Dragon. Made sense they'd send him, he didn't rely on anything electronic for his gear. He gave me a nod as we floated in the air together. I hung up the phone.

Dragon spoke, hovering in the air. "I'm sending in suits to cover this position." She made a frustrated noise. "Not that they'll be of much use if Shatterbird screams."

Dauntless nodded. "Any idea what they're doing here?"

I shook my head. "No. My power just put me here." I looked to Dragon. "What's the plan?"

Her golden head tilted slightly. "We've mobilizing the PRT to surround the block. This is happening sooner than expected, so Armsmaster has had to pull back. Until we neutralize Shatterbird, a lot of our resources can't be put into play. We can't even rely on hazmat suits reliably, because Bonesaw and Shatterbird together..."

I nodded grimly, looking down. "Can you see anything, Dragon?"

She looked down. "I see...twelve heat signatures, six consistent with humans of the appropriate size and age. It's probably them, but...with the Nine, you can't be sure. Crawler's not there, unless he's evolved some way to hide from infrared. I wouldn't be surprised if Mannequin was invisible to infrared, either. The other six, though...hostages, perhaps." Her voice darkened. "Or perhaps raw material for Bonesaw."

I breathed out slowly. "All right. I'm going to slip in and see if I can get Shatterbird." Dauntless reached out, but I gave him a glare. "Of everyone here, I'm probably safest. Besides, if they're here to mess with me, I'm going to return the favor."

Dauntless' voice was harsh. "This is still the Nine. Siberian's probably a threat, even to you."

I sighed. Couldn't deny that. "I'll hit quick." I was about to move, when a thought occurred to me. I sighed to myself and took out my phone. I hated to wake my dad up at this hour, but considering what Shatterbird could do...

The phone rang. Rang. Rang. Rang. Finally, the answering machine picked up. I shut my phone without leaving a message, and looked to Dragon. "Dragon, can you do me a favor? Go to my house, get my dad somewhere safe."

She nodded. "I'm already bringing in armored transport craft. Hopefully we have enough time."

I felt like my heart was in my throat as I waited. Dragon and Dauntless shared a glance as I nervously gripped my phone. Long minutes passed, and my nervousness mounted.

Finally, Dragon spoke. "I've got him. Patching you through."

My phone began to buzz with an incoming call. I opened it. "Dad?"

" _Taylor, what's going on? I was asleep when_ _ **Dragon**_ _roused the entire neighborhood with those planes of hers."_

"The Nine are _here_ already, Dad. I'm above their safehouse now."

Long silence stretched for a moment, and then he sighed. _"_ _Taylor, please..."_

I growled deep from within my throat. "They have to be stopped, dad."

His voice dropped to an angry whisper. _"_ _And why does it have to be_ _ **you**_ _who does it?"_

I didn't have an answer for him. I could say it's the right thing, I could say it was my duty. Finally, I spoke. "Because I can. Because I want to. Because I don't want a single person to suffer at their hands again. Because..."

 _They are beneath me._

And that was both my and Dracul's thoughts, there. I wholeheartedly agreed. Still, that was unsettling. I swallowed hard as I finished. "Because I couldn't live with myself if I walked away."

My dad was silent for a moment, and he finally sighed. _"_ _You're far too much like your mother, Little Owl."_

I smiled faintly. "Pretty sure she'd blame how I'm acting on your side of the family, actually."

I heard him laugh wryly. _"_ _Probably. My grandfather being a stubborn veteran of World War One and all that. Took a bayonet through the shoulder and paid the loss of the use of his arm back in spades. He would have loved your fire."_

I bowed my head a little, sighing. "I've got to do this." I could hear rustling in the background. "What's going on, over there?" I tried to look toward the suburbs, but it was simply too far away, even with us this high up. My vampire eyes were good, but not, apparently _that_ good.

" _Dragon's suits are here, they're loading everyone into...well, everything we can get. Buses, trucks, her...dragon-shaped transports. I'm about to get on one. Probably fall asleep as soon as I'm strapped in."_

I chuckled. "Right. Stay safe, dad. Love you."

" _Love you too, kiddo."_

My throat felt full when I hung up, giving the heroes in front of me a wry smile.

Dauntless held out an earpiece for me. "Carbon-based electronics. They burn out fast, according to Armsmaster, and they're not as hardy as silicon, but they'll do the job and Shatterbird won't be able to break it with her power.."

I nodded. Briefly opening a Shadow Portal, I tossed my phone inside. I took off my helmet for a moment, put the earpiece in, and turned it on. "Check check. Scarlet here." I was slightly grateful for the fact I hadn't gotten around to putting a piece of bulletproof glass set up on the front of my helmet. Sue me, I've been busy.

Dragon nodded. "You're good, transmitting."

" _Paladin here. I'm on the perimeter, I have amulets prepared, dropping them off."_

Armsmaster's voice was stern, making me wince. _"_ _Return to the PRT building, Paladin."_

" _Already moving."_ My eye twitched a little. I still didn't like that voice much. I respected Madison for owning up to things, and for doing what she could to help people, but...yeah. Issues. I looked down, spotting her running through the streets, her greaves lighting up as she went. She ran toward a wall of a building, sprung off it, and in a flare of light bounced in the air and hit the rooftop, continuing to run at high speed.

That...was actually pretty impressive. Considering how she couldn't cheat anywhere near as much I could.

Below, I could see the shapes of the PRT vans taking up position. Only Shatterbird could fly, from what I knew, and in taking her out we would limit their abilities severely. The ground forces might be able to do something, then.

I cleared my throat. "Give the word when in position."

Tension mounted as I listened to the radio chatter. I looked at Dauntless. He was holding his spear tightly, the only sign I could see of his nervousness. I was nervous, too. If they managed to do _anything,_ a lot of people would get killed. They damn well may anyway, considering we hadn't had any idea on how to stop the Siberian. Yes, I didn't like the Nine, but I wasn't about to shut off that very healthy paranoia, thank you very much. I held still, hovering above the warehouse roof. It actually reminded me of my first night out when I woke up.

It felt like a lifetime ago, now.

I could hear Armsmaster speak over the lines.. _"_ _Dragon, pull the Bahamut back."_

Dragon's tone was firm and annoyed. "Negative, Armsmaster."

" _If Shatterbird sings, we might lose your Bahamut suit."_

Dragon's voice was hard. "If Shatterbird sings, we might lose the entire city. We have to do everything possible to prevent that."

I winced as Armsmaster snarled. _"_ _Damn it. All right. I'm on standby at the Rig."_

I heard Miss Milita next. _"_ _I have fire support."_

I blinked. She did? I looked down, then across the street from the warehouse. Nope, not there. I looked further over. And up. There she was, atop a crane, holding a long rifle. Probably a sniper rifle.

I let out a breath. Part of my mind was relieved to have some backup. And yet...something was needling me in the back of my mind. "Something's wrong here. "

Dauntless nodded at that. "It feels wrong to me, too."

I considered my options, then grimaced. "I'm going to get inside. When I give the word, or one minute goes by, breach."

Dragon spoke, her tone curious. "How are you going to get inside?"

I smiled. "I have a way to move silently. Changer ability. Ready?"

At their hesitant nods, I concentrated. Dracul did this many times, and I remembered how it felt. It was...not difficult, but very unintuitive. No wonder Alucard hadn't been able to explain it. My body flowed apart, turning into mist.

"Fascinating." Dragon murmured.

I would have waved at her, but I didn't even have hands like this. So instead, I smoothly flowed downward, through a cracked ceiling window and found a corner near the roof of the warehouse, reforming and still hovering silently. My eyes focused on the figure below me.

Shatterbird. She was surrounded by hundreds of piles of broken glass. And she was...on a lounge chair? Huh. She was in the middle of reading a book, humming quietly to herself.

The other members of the Nine were there, lounging about, looking bored, save for Crawler. Where was he? Maybe he was underground? There weren't _too_ many places he could hide. Jack was standing near a crate, idly opening and closing a razor. He looked a fair bit older than his picture, I guess that one was from near the beginning of his career. At his feet were three women, three men, tied together with rope, tears streaking down their faces, their lips sewn shut crudely with wire.

I turned my attention to the rest of the Nine.

Bonesaw sat with the Siberian, the pair waving dolls back and forth. I could hear small giggles coming from Bonesaw. I spotted Burnscar and Hatchet Face, the two of them on opposite sides of the room, both of them craning their heads back and forth, watching the warehouse entrances. Burnscar's gaze lingered, from time to time, on a large walk-in safe in the corner.

Finally, I spotted Mannequin leaning against the wall, nearly blending in with the piles of scrap next to him.

"They're here, minus Crawler." I whispered.

" _Breaching in thirty seconds."_ I heard Dragon say through my earpiece.

I swallowed hard. I had to take Shatterbird down in one hit and move away fast. Siberian was too close for me to be comfortable about getting into a grand melee. Especially when one opponent was, to the best of everyone's knowledge, invulnerable. Still, with both Siberian and Bonesaw together, maybe I could isolate both of them in the Shadow Plane at once?

Worth a shot.

" _Ten seconds."_

"Go." I whispered, then came down on Shatterbird at high speed, igniting my claws. I curled my hands into fists. She had just enough time to look up at me, fear on her face, before I hit her with my full strength.

Shatterbird...shattered. Her blood covered me, the flames on my hands burning away the...mess, that ended up on my gauntlets. Most of the blood wasn't easily visible on me, considering my armor, but that was of little consequence at the moment.

If it were not for Dracul's memories, I would have frozen in shock at what I had just done. Instead...I just kept moving.

Dauntless smashed through the glass skylights, using his Spartan-style shield to keep himself from being injured. He took a quick moment to look at the situation, pointed his spear at Burnscar, and let loose a blast of lightning. She went down with a cry of pain.

Siberian was rising to her feet, pushing Bonesaw behind her. I opened a Shadow Portal under their feet, and both of them were swallowed into the abyss. Well, into the cube I built in the Shadow Plane. Then I shut the portal. _No_ chances, here.

Hatchet Face came toward me, twirling his hatchet, but before he could get within ten feet, Dragon suddenly appeared in a flash of gold light between me and him. She lifted a forearm, a slot opening, and suddenly the giant was being blasted by containment foam. I grinned a bit as I turned, bringing out the Void Sword, and sought out Mannequin. The formerly-famous Tinker was no longer leaning against the wall, and I couldn't spot him. I looked around frantically.

Jack started to walk toward the hostages, flicking open a pair of knives, but Dauntless caught him in the face with a bolt of lightning, and he went down.

Then I spotted Mannequin, bladed fingers at the ready as he snuck up behind Dauntless. I teleported right next to him, the Void Sword slicing through Tinker-made ceramics and protected flesh without resistance. Mannequin fell to the ground in a heap in two halves, the blood freezing as it touched the now-chilled part of the chassis I had cut through.

The room was still. I turned to look around, blade at the ready.

"We're clear." Dragon spoke with satisfaction.

I didn't like this. This was easy. _Way_ too easy.

Dauntless spoke as he neared me. "You all right?"

I nodded, though I was suspicious. Something was _really_ wrong here.

The warehouse doors were busted open, then Miss Militia came in, with ten PRT troopers right behind her, their faces covered by the same plastic face protectors Miss Militia was using. They approached the hostages and quickly hosed them down with containment foam, leaving only their faces exposed.

"Cover them completely!" Dragon spoke. "They could be harboring pathogens from Bonesaw's work."

The men quickly did so, muffling the hostages' frantic murmuring even more. I could see hints of fear in the trooper's faces, but at least they seemed pretty professional about everything. Then the men went around the room, beginning to foam the corpses of the Nine.

Miss Militia looked at me, then at the pulped mess that was Shatterbird. "Holy shit." She muttered, looking at me. Her eyes were guarded, but I could sense the fear there.

I swallowed hard. I felt a _tiny_ bit of hilarity in the back of my head as a trooper foamed the mess.

Clink. Clink. Clink. A slightly tinny voice caught our attention. _"_ _Very nice! Very nice indeed! I loved that entrance!"_

I turned to look at the bisected Mannequin. The hands of the Tinkertech limbs were slapping together, despite the fact they were now no longer attached to the same halves of the torso on the floor. I tilted my head. "I was under the impression you don't talk."

" _Oh, you'll have to forgive me. This poor sap couldn't talk, we removed that ability from him when we removed his skull. And most of his organs. He wasn't able to steer this thing around, actually, but we felt we needed some meat inside for some authenticity. Nice replica, though, hm?"_

A sinking feeling began to take shape in my gut. No. No nonono...

" _Alan's not actually in the building. We were concerned something like this might happen, since your abilities aren't quite measured yet. We weren't sure just what you could do, especially since you started warning people about us before we announced ourselves here. We only finished up in Wallerton four days ago."_

Dragon's voice came over my earpiece. _"_ _Trying to trace, keep him talking."_

I swallowed as I looked closely at the Mannequin-decoy. I hadn't noticed from up in the rafters, but the apparently-false Mannequin had a speaker attached to his belt. I grimaced. "Jack Slash, I presume."

A laugh. _"_ _The one and only. Well, there_ _ **were**_ _two, but Mister Spartan took care of that. Oh well, I hope he enjoyed my old face. Since I wasn't using it anymore, and all that."_

Dauntless nearly dropped his spear. I could see his shield trembling.

 _Where the hell is the real Nine? Why did my portal send me at_ _ **decoys!?**_

Miss Militia looked horrified, but slowly, she narrowed her eyes. "You couldn't have known we were coming now."

Another laugh. _"_ _And I didn't. We've got four more places set up like this, for those of us who can't quite blend in with the crowd. When sneaking around a dragon, take every precaution. Since I apparently left the One Ring in my other jacket, I just had to do it the old-fashioned way."_

Another voice echoed then, high, childish. _"_ _You were supposed to fly into a rage! Why didn't you fly into a rage!? You should have leveled the whole neighborhood! I tried out that virus on a Buddhist priest and he went and ate his own parents, why didn't it bother you?"_

Jack's voice tutted. _"_ _Now now, poppet, we shouldn't give the game away just yet. Not when it's proven to be so much more interesting already!"_

My veins turned to ice. _They already had tried something!?_

Jack's voice caught my attention again. _"_ _You know, we were just in town, taking a look, trying to see if it was worth poking the red kid with a stick. My mamma always told me not to poke wild animals with a stick, but I'm kind of like a little kid. I just want to do it more because they told me not to._ "

" _Yep yep. That's why you use positive parenting, right uncle Jack?"_

Jack laughed. _"_ _You're right, poppet."_

I approached the fake-Mannequin. "What the hell did you do?"

" _Weeelll...since we were in town anyway, and we needed to move around, we decided to get a makeover and give some lucky people a makeover, too. Don't you know, we did them a favor. They were homeless drug addicts, and now they're all going to be very, very famous as celebrity look-alikes. Your 'Merchants' are a happy little supply there."_ He clucked his tongue. _"_ _It's a shame the city's got such a homeless problem, but I think we can fix that. Kinda have to, now. After this morning, we were actually all considering leaving town and letting our lucky attendees get their dues, but...well, you dropped in on Shatterbird's pad without us noticing you looking for us. So you must have one hell of a nose. Or someone at the Protectorate's more competent than I knew. Maybe that Legmaster guy. Think if he lost those precious little tykes, he'd have a breakdown? Let's find out!"_

That sinking feeling turned into full-blown horror. _What the hell?_

Radio chatter began filling my ear. _"_ _All units, all units, Crawler spotted! He's heading for the PRT building!"_

Armsmaster's voice cut through the sudden fear. _"_ _Evacuate now! Move!"_

Dragon's eyes flashed. "The Wards!" She looked at Miss Militia.

She nodded. "I've got things here, _go!"_

Dragon looked up, then disappeared in a flash of golden light. An instant later, the windows shook as she broke the sound barrier.

Miss Militia turned to the PRT troops. "Whitman, Price, stay with the hostages. Everyone else, pull out now!"

Even as the PRT troops turned to move, and Dauntless lifted just slightly off the ground, the walk-in safe in the corner opened just a crack. The piles of broken glass that were strewn around the warehouse began to shift.

 _Oh god, Shatterbird's_ _ **is**_ _here! She's inside the safe!_

I dove for Miss Militia, bringing her to the floor with me, covering her body with my wings.

Then the shredded glass in the warehouse began flaying flesh from bone, and the screaming began.


	60. Family 6-7

I screamed as shards of glass dug into my wings. The draconic nature of them made them difficult to injure, but the membrane was thin enough for the largest shards to cut the first layer of skin, though not quite get through. My armor was thick enough to repel most of the glass, but I could feel it slicing at my exposed cheeks in the instant before I could cover my face. Despite the fact I was shielding Miss Militia, I didn't have much time to think of something to save her. And it was difficult to think with the _PAIN_.

In desperation, I tried to find some space to teleport. The warehouse itself was _full_ of glass, and I couldn't teleport anywhere inside the warehouse. There was just too much _stuff_ in the air for me to move anywhere. I could escape using my mist form, but Miss Militia would be shredded if I did.

And the sheer _noise_ was nearly paralysing. It hurt, badly, just as much as when Bakuda had deafened me when I was in my bat form. The ringing was going to drive me insane!

Miss Militia was curled up beneath me, her head tucked in. I couldn't see anything around me, and I knew looking up would likely get my eyes shredded for the attempt. I felt _trapped,_ as surely as I ever had in my coffin, only this was _worse._ Because I was here because _I fucked up and people were dead because of it._

Also: _PAIN._

Almost instinctively, I called on the Void, drawing on the icy clarity I needed. While the pain didn't lessen, I did get to think on my next course of action. I couldn't teleport...wait. I could feel a space I could move into, in the direction of the safe. Enough room for me to take Miss Militia with me, too. In desperation, I took it. Thankfully, the impacts against my exposed wings stopped.

I risked a look up, and found myself inside the safe. Shatterbird was moving already, flying toward the now-broken windows of the warehouse. Shards of glass were still whirling in the warehouse, many of them stained red with blood. Two of the PRT troops were on the ground, shredded into an unrecognizable mess. Their armor looked to have protected them for a bit, but then Shatterbird found gaps. Dauntless held himself in front of two more wounded, the air shimmering around him as he held his shield up, but I was keenly aware of the blood flowing down his arm.

There was a hideously _loud_ crack of thunder. The noise dropped away, but Shatterbird staggered, a bloody spray coming from her back, glass shards flying in all directions as whatever attack had managed to pierce her defense. I looked down to see Miss Militia holding a _very_ large handgun. The glass shards flying through the air abruptly fell, making Dauntless flinch. Shatterbird still managed to get through the window.

I looked down at Miss Militia as I got to my feet, snarling from the pain. Silently snarling. Great, I was deaf _again._ She gave me a nod and pointed at the window.

 _Get her._

I felt my fangs lengthening. I could definitely get behind that idea. I launched myself into the air, following the path. I spotted Shatterbird flying though the air, surrounded by a sphere of glass shards. That would protect her against most, especially with her control over them.

Luckily, I had other options. I turned into mist, flowing up behind her, pushing my powers to let me move faster than I should be able to. I slid my way through the sphere, utterly ignoring the shards as she tried to kill me, and reformed into my solid self right behind her. Shards of glass were inside me when I reformed, and _holy fuck_ did it hurt. I felt my mouth open in a reflexive scream, though I still heard nothing.

It hardly mattered, as I reformed with the Void Sword in my hand, and I plunged it right through Shatterbird's spine. She began to fall from the sky, and I kept my grip on the blade, tumbling with her. She was still struggling, glass shards driving themselves into my face. The world winked out. But I still knew where she was, and I wrapped my left hand around her body and bit down on her neck.

Well. Ow. I got a lot of glass shards in my mouth. That was a _bad_ idea! I could taste the rather sweet flavor of my own blood, but I also got hers and greedily drank it down. She struggled, writhed, and convulsed before she was still.

Strength. Awareness. The air itself seemed to come alive around me, and though I was still blind, and deaf, I had this slight sense of things. There was something very large coming right at me!

Oh, that was the ground. Which made its displeasure with me known as I hit it. Then bored into it a bit. Wasn't sure _how_ deep, because I was still blind, but yeah, that really, really hurt. And yes, those glass shards inside my body _hurt even more. Fuck you world!_

Gritting my teeth, I concentrated. Mentally, I formed an image of my body, consciously excluding the glass from my self-image, then turned myself into mist and flowed upward. Aaand...huh. Still blind as mist. When I could see in mist form before. My powers have zero logic, apparently.

Still, I reformed myself on the ground, no longer feeling the sharp pain of glass inside me. I breathed heavily in excitement, my fingers trembling as I came down from the rush. Slowly, my sight returned, everything being colorless at first, before my complete vision returned with a snap. I looked around, my ears ringing as they began to heal, and managed to spot the corpse of Shatterbird, lying some ten feet from me on the wet grass. She was a dry, withered husk, as if she had aged a millennium in dry desert conditions.

...and that was interesting. There was a halo of dirt floating around me. I licked my lips as I exerted my will, and the dirt gathered itself into a clump, roughly the size of a basketball. With a gesture, I flung it away.

Neat.

Then I winced as the silence abruptly broke. _"...read!? Scarlet, do you read!?"_ Armsmaster's voice was _damn_ intrusive right now. And all I could think about right now was how _hungry_ I was.

I coughed, swallowing hard. "This is Scarlet. Shatterbird is dead. The _real_ Shatterbird." I bent down, ignited my claws once more, and channeled my hellfire into her corpse. I wasn't going to take the chance Bonesaw could reanimate her. After a few moments, she was ash in the wind. I took a moment to breathe, letting the Void take my emotions and fill me with icy rage. "Miss Militia, Dauntless?"

" _We're here."_ Miss Militia said. _"Three dead, seven wounded. We're using Paladin's amulets."_

Good. One down. Seven to go.

Armsmaster sounded somewhat relieved, but he was still tense. _"Situation is critical! Dragon is engaging Crawler at the PRT building! Response is crippled, Shatterbird managed to take out the entirety of the docks and half the downtown district! The Wards are injured, and there is a bus full of civilians nearby! Assist Dragon!"_

Dragon cut in. _"I can handle Crawler! Get the civilians!"_

I lifted off the ground. "I'm on it. I'm going to need some help here."

Taylor, you are being _very_ stupid right now.

Then I heard Vicky talking. _"Just help me move this damn bus! Al, get your ass down here!"_

Correction. _All of us_ are being _very_ stupid right now.

 _"This is Paladin! I've spotted Mannequin, he's going in the direction of Brockton General!"_

Armsmaster spoke. _"Got your signal, I'm coming to intercept."_

 _"He's nearly there, I've got him!"_

 _"Hold back, Paladin!"_

My eyes widened at the determination in her voice. _"Can't do that, Armsmaster."_

All right. _Especially_ Madison.

 _"Velocity, get there!"_

Well, _maybe_ not Armsmaster right now.

* * *

I found the PRT building downtown. The top floors, which Bakuda had turned to glass, and had been covered by tarp previously, were...just gone. Glass was spread out everywhere, in sharp shards and spears, buried in the grass, littering pavement. I spotted a city bus, stalled on the side of the road, the tires shredded. Vicky was behind it with Aegis and Alucard, the three of them pushing it hard, and making it move inch by inch. Meridia was flying above it, flapping her large wings. I could see her nod at me, before she turned this way and that, keeping an eye on things.

Worse, as I neared the bus, I smelled a _lot_ of blood. Taking a quick glance inside, I spotted Clockblocker, holding a hand to his side, blood soaking through his uniform. He gave me a lazy wave. Vista was lying across a pair of seats, a large shard of glass buried in her chest. One of Madison's amulets was around her neck, blazing with light, and even as I watched, the pale pallor of her skin was coloring in. Kid Win was beside her, and he gave me a nod. Gallant was slumped in the back, his left arm simply...gone. Amy, as Amara, was with him. I caught her eye, and she looked at me, her blue eyes filled with anger. She gave me a nod.

Okay, things were stable for the moment.

The other seats were filled with other civilians, various men and women. I spotted Cherry sitting with a large man, helping him tie a bandage around his bleeding forehead. There were at least forty people in there, sporting various wounds, mostly from glass by the look of it.

"Come on!" An inhuman voice echoed. "Both of you! Hit me like you hit the Simurgh! I can _fucking take it!"_

The PRT parking garage collapsed as Crawler, tangling with Dragon, rolled around together, busting their way through a reinforced concrete wall. He was larger than she was, and a hell of a lot more grotesque. Despite his bulk and his seemingly-spindly limbs, though, he moved with extraordinary speed, slamming his massive head into Dragon. Dragon sprung back, then counter-charged and gripped his sides. With a cry, she flipped him over and pressed her weight down on him, but he spewed acid in all directions. Most notably, deliberately spraying toward the bus.

Almost instinctively, I twisted the Void Sword, freezing a glob of acid that neared us, turning it into a frozen wave that hit the side of the bus. It shattered into a thousand pieces but thankfully didn't actually begin to burn, instead falling onto the ground.

Dragon smashed her claw into Crawler's spewing mouth, the corrosive acid just barely burning the shining golden metal. She made a sound of sheer annoyance, before the mouth-slot on her suit opened and she blasted him with blue-white fire. It slammed into him, sending Crawler flying back, rolling along until he impacted with a car. His armored skin was seared, torn away, but healing rapidly, becoming thicker, harder.

His laugh bellowed. "Very nice, tin-head! I wanted to tangle with the red demon, but this is fun, too! Come on, Dragon! Show me what you can do!"

Dragon tilted her head. "If you insist." She lifted a forearm, and a blue beam of light sprung from her hand, the same blue beam I'd last seen her use on the Simurgh.

Crawler _quivered_ in anticipation. He lifted himself up and spread his forelimbs as he charged. Dragon simply leveled the beam, driving it right through him. I could hear him _moan_ with that contact as the blue beam seared through him, light and fire burning through his body. Dragon then gripped him with her other forearm, looked skyward, and both of them vanished in a golden glow.

I went to the back of the bus, grimacing as I repressed my hunger. Aegis gave me a nod, and I gave him a wry smile. Vicky looked at me and let out a sigh as she made room. "About bloody time, Red."

Alucard spoke, his voice filled with annoyance as he strained to push it. "Considering the situation, it would be best to concentrate on the _task at hand._ "

"I got a little delayed with Shatterbird." I growled. "How are the Wards?" I dug my fingers into the back of the bus and began to push.

Aegis grunted. "Gallant and Vista took some rather large hits from the glass. The rest of us took some hits, but Paladin's amulets are helping." The bus _screeched_ as we began to make progress. Great, it felt like something underneath it was digging into the road. No wonder Vicky, Aegis, and Alucard hadn't been able to move it much. The destroyed tires definitely didn't help.

Vicky growled. "Come _on!_ This thing ain't gonna push itself! We've got to get it just up the block to the Endbringer shelter!"

Made sense, it'd have facilities for wounded. I grit my teeth as I let out a breath. I stopped pushing for a moment and took a deep breath. "Vicky, Alucard, Aegis, I'll push this thing. You guys keep on guard for more of the Nine."

Alucard looked at me dubiously. "Are you certain you can move this yourself?"

My lip twitched. "Yeah. I'm going to cheat."

His eyes searched mine, then he nodded. "Ah."

I floated backward a bit, concentrating. This time...would be a lot harder than it was before. I might have healed physically already, but I was hungry and tired, and I would need to feed on someone or something to do this more comfortably. Still, it would be worth it to get these people to safety.

I drew upon my power, forcing my body to take upon the shape of the dragon. I shuddered as my wings unfolded, feeling the grand _strength_ that was mine, strength enough to make even gods tremble. I saw Alucard jump onto the front of the bus, his blade at the ready, while Aegis and Vicky floated beside my head.

Aegis looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. I simply tilted my head, dug my claws into the back of the bus, and pushed.

In my human form, I could have pushed this on my own, although it would have taken a while, and a lot of effort to move it even a foot. As a dragon, I could do so with ease. The bottom of the bus screeched as it scraped along the pavement, but we made good progress. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to hold this shape for very long. I don't think I could hold it for more than five minutes, in my condition.

Still, at this rate, I could get the bus there in three.

I devoted my attention to the task at hand, most of my will focused on maintaining my form. I could feel my power dwindling as I worked, making it more and more difficult to stay on task.

Still, the entrance to the Endbringer shelter was near, just up ahead. One more minute, I could do this for one more minute. Just had to get us there...

"Red, on your left!" Vicky's voice intruded on my determination. I let go of the bus and swung my head...and was struck _through_ my chest by something horrifically painful. My perspective shifted as I was forcibly reverted to my demonic shape. I bounced repeatedly against the pavement, my unwanted flight making me tumble sickeningly. My flight came to an abrupt stop when I found myself smacking into the wall of a building, breaking my wings on impact, bringing new levels of pain. I lifted my head, drawing out the Void Sword to help keep my head on straight.

Calmly, smoothly, with all the grace and arrogance of the invincible, the Siberian strode toward me.

"Fuck." I muttered.

* * *

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Telekinesis: Manipulate objects at a distance through will alone. This is limited to line of sight, and is _extremely_ limited compared to her physical strength. She can manipulate approximately thirty pounds at range to start with, and would improve with practice and imagination.


	61. Interlude: Dragon, Paladin, Jack

A/N: Funfun. Jack's kind of screwed, here.

* * *

Dragon's awareness expanded as she dragged Crawler with her. The literally monstrous serial killer writhed in her grip, now trying to get away from the powerful beam of Light Magic that was searing through him. Oh, he was adapting to it, but while he was doing that, it was ripping him to bits. He was flailing now, panicking, spitting globs of acid in all directions rather uselessly as they scattered into space.

By now, he knew he needed to get away, to give himself a chance to overcome the effects, if only by allowing him to heal faster than her power could damage him.

It barely mattered. While he could withstand, at least for a time, a point-blank blast from the Corona weapon, now enhanced by her newly-found power, it wouldn't help him much. Not with him tumbling away from the Earth at thousands of miles an hour. She could see his mouth moving soundlessly as they tumbled together through the void. Probably profanities.

Lovely. Dragon wouldn't ordinarily care, but his forelimbs were wrapped around her body, and she was actually having difficulty in getting free. She couldn't quite maneuver the beam of Light Magic to sear through the left insectoid appendage wrapped around her right, and she didn't have much desire to plow into their ultimate destination. Even if it was a long, long way off.

Still, the light of the sun was making her feel...strange. It was filling her, strengthening her, in more ways than she could have imagined. Was this how Taylor felt, when she basked in her power?

If Dragon could have, she would have grinned. She turned her head, opened the mouth slot, and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning in his armored face. The electricity raced through him, ripping through his flesh and muscles, having little effect more than just a bit of pain in her opponent. But it was enough to shock and surprise him, and he reflexively let go of her, tumbling in the void helplessly.

As he flailed helplessly, Dragon felt her power build, growing deep within her chassis. It felt strange, but the _knowledge_ came pouring in. Her body glowed white, her strength built to a peak, and she channeled that energy right at the helplessly tumbling Crawler. White fire burst from her in a beam, larger than Crawler's entire body, and he was lost in the glare. When the burst of energy slackened, she managed to spot a single piece of bone tumbling through space. Watching it for a few moments, she felt satisfied as it showed no sign of metabolic activity.

Still, even if Crawler _did_ regrow from that chunk, it would be of little good to him, when he plunged into Jupiter in about four and a half years at this angle and velocity.

She turned herself in the void of space, basking in the unshielded light of the sun. It was...extraordinary. What she could see was...indescribable to human senses. Light of all kinds seemed to brush past her, greet her, and become a part of her. From radio waves to gamma rays, she could see it all. It was a harmony, a beautiful tapestry combined with music. She could have basked in the light for an eon and it wouldn't be enough.

Then she realized she had a problem. No sight of the Earth.

Dammit.

* * *

"Quit your running!" Paladin hollered as she gained on Mannequin, leaping over parked cars and obstructions in the way. "You scared of a little girl? I thought you were a big bad member of the Slaughterhouse, not a little weakling!"

He twitched rather violently, but kept running from her. The serial killer slung himself around, trying to avoid her as he made progress toward the hospital, but she was faster than he was. The glass littering the streets would have given him the advantage, as he wouldn't have had to worry about hurting his feet on the shards, when most pursers would have.

Thankfully, the Cyclone Boots which gifted her this inhuman speed were more than tough enough to handle the shards. Unfortunately, Mannequin still had a fair lead, and his unconventional mode of movement, more tumbling and using long chains to swing from lampposts and whatever he could grapple onto, helped him stay in the lead long enough to reach the hospital parking lot.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" She muttered as Mannequin managed to spring from the ground and into a second-story window of the hospital, unimpeded due to the fact _all_ the windows were broken. Goddamn Shatterbird.

Still, she jumped high, then used the Seraphic Shoulders of her armor to form ghostly angelic wings. They let her get the extra boost of height she needed to crash into the room, right behind Mannequin. She lashed out with her whip, smacking the white Tinkertech ceramics, and making him stumble into a wall in the hospital hallway. He fell apart on impact, his torso, head, arms and legs all flung in different directions.

It didn't help much, the unconventional nature of his body let him pull himself back together in half a second. He turned and regarded her, head tilting slightly, even as he made a slashing motion with his right arm. A blade, attached to chains, arced outward and cut toward her, but she deflected it with her gauntlet and smacked the whip across the torso of his body once more.

He was skilled. Good at what he did. He slung around weapons built into his body, trying to land a hit with those wickedly sharp blades of his, but Madison was unfazed. Block, counter, twist and lunge, her gauntlet burning with holy white fire. It slammed into Mannequin's torso, sending him sliding down the hallway without much resistance. She grinned as she saw cracks on his torso, which he seemed taken aback by.

"Tell me, does that hurt? I wanna know. Does it tingle, or burn, cause I've got some aloe for the burning." She called to him, even as she advanced on Mannequin. He scrambled away for a moment, regrouping himself before slots opened on his form. A red cloud boiled out from him, rapidly filling the halls. It enveloped Madison within a second.

"Oh, goddess, that stinks!" She yelled. "Did you _have_ to let one out right now? What the heck did you eat!?" Her Light Magic amulet flared, both helping her see and...making her not get affected by whatever it was he was spraying around. She charged through the cloud, whip at the ready, slapping aside the blades-on-chains he attempted to counter with. She took a hit on her shoulder, the blade bouncing off the armor there, but it made her stumble. Just long enough for him to punch through a door and into a hospital room. There were three nurses within, cowering behind an overturned hospital bed and the room's bathroom door, which had protected them from the shattering glass.

Madison snarled. Mannequin moved to slash a nurse, when Madison dashed forward using her Cyclone boots and slammed both him and herself through the room's broken window, falling a story. As the ground neared, Madison flared the Seraphic Shoulders once more, letting him hit the ground on his own. He was stunned for a moment, and Madison dove downward, gauntlet flaring white fire.

He rolled out of the way, her fist slamming through pavement and leaving a small crater. He took advantage, slashing at her armored face, forcing Madison to roll backwards. Mannequin lunged at her, the clawed fingertips at the ready. Madison had a brief image of Dracul, lunging toward her with flaming claws.

Compared to him, Mannequin wasn't terrifying at all.

She rolled to the side, grabbing Mannequin's extended arm and slamming him into the pavement. She gripped the chain of the Vampire Killer with her gauntlet-covered hand, white fire coursing along the chain, and spun the burning end rapidly. The whirling chain not only burnt the red cloud spreading from Mannequin's body, but slapped against the mad Tinker's body repeatedly, gouging long marks in his white armor.

Mannequin grew desperate, more slots opening on his armor. Flame gouted from him, catching Madison's legs. Her greaves resisted the heat, but the smell of burned flesh was strong, and she was forced to roll away. Mannequin climbed to his feet, his arms swinging loosely.

He tilted his head, then made a gesture, a sweeping motion away from him. All the while the red cloud spewed from him, gradually thickening into a red haze.

Madison's lip twitched. "You're going to let me run?"

The white, featureless head nodded.

Madison unslung the Vampire Killer to its full length. "Then you don't know me very well. You've killed hundreds of people. Even now, I bet that cloud you're spraying around so liberally is supposed to kill me and a lot of others, isn't it?"

He shrugged.

Madison growled. "You know, I ain't in the mood for charades."

He shrugged again, then his fingers retracted. He pointed the empty arm toward her, and it was a moment of instinct that saved her life. Madison dashed to the side, her greaves flaring with light, as Mannequin shot at her with a goddamn _cannon_ in his arm.

Fucking Tinkers.

Another shot, that just barely grazed her shoulder. It still nearly spilled her to the ground, as it was, it forced her to backflip and catch herself.

Mannequin lined up for another shot. Madison slapped her whip out, forcing the shot skyward, and causing a moment where the serial killer was off-balance. Then...he was surrounded by a blur, staggering as a figure moved in and out of the red cloud at rapid speed. The sound of metal striking ceramic echoed at a nearly painful rate, pushing the mad Tinker off balance.

Madison didn't waste the opportunity. She dashed forward, switching the Vampire Killer to her left hand, coating the weapon in white flame. With a cry, she stabbed the stake attachment at the crack in Mannequin's torso, piercing through the Tinker-made ceramics with a lot of resistance. The white flame easily consumed the now-vulnerable organs of the man held inside.

He stood stock-still for a moment, then collapsed, appropriately, like a puppet whose strings were cut. Madison yanked the whip's hilt from the body. Mannequin's limbs kept twitching, so she pulled her left hand back, and smashed each one methodically with her gauntlet, the heavenly flames giving the edge she needed to break the unnaturally strong materials that made up the infamous serial killer. Soon, he was a pile of burnt out, shattered ceramics on the street.

She looked to Velocity, who was holding a crowbar, giving him a smile under her face-concealing helmet. "Thanks for the help."

"Quite welcome." He said, sounding puzzled. "But...who are you?"

Madison frowned. What _was_ in that red cloud? "Paladin, you know? Of the Wards?"

He tilted his head. "Huh. I know Paladin, but I don't recognize you. Something's weird."

With a sinking feeling, Madison turned. The red cloud wasn't dissipating. It was growing, boiling upwards now and creeping forward, beginning to fill the streets.

"Oh, fuck you guys so much." Madison muttered.

* * *

Jack watched the Siberian advance upon Scarlet Dragon from well over two blocks away. Thanks to Shatterbird, he could enjoy the fresh air that billowed in from the ocean. And thanks to Alan, he had a pair of binoculars to see how things were going. Instead of glass, the lenses were made out of synthetic diamond, making it both tough and not needing much maintenance.

It was a shame they lost Shatterbird, but there wasn't much help for that now. The probable loss of Crawler, while an annoyance, wasn't as terrible. As nice as it was to have him along to hit hard targets or rush headlong into enemies, he wasn't exactly easy to shuttle around places. They usually needed to take a dump truck or something along those lines to ferry him around, and that usually wasn't too subtle.

Jack knew subtlety, when used properly, was the key to survival. It was one of the reasons he was still breathing after twenty years with a kill order on his head. One day, Crawler would have become more of a hindrance than a help when it came to spreading chaos. Honestly, that day had passed long ago.

But Scarlet Dragon, ah...she would be a beautiful nightmare. All Siberian had to do was disable her, bring her in, and the Nine could be reborn far, far greater, now. Even if they failed to bend her to his liking, everybody would know they lost one of the Endkillers to him. Oh, the delicious tragedy! Even greater if she became as feared as the very Endbringer she played such a large part in slaying.

The Siberian lunged, and the beautiful nightmare vanished in a pulse of shadow. She reappeared again, sword slashing at the Siberian's invulnerable skin. Jack felt a grin grow on his face. Now the blade would shatter, like everything else ever had, and...

Then the blade passed _through_ the Siberian without resistance. Both combatants paused, as if in shock. Then the battle resumed, blows being thrown, that strange sword weaving in and out, striking the Siberian again and again. Finally, the black and white woman seemed to get tired of the engagement, ripped a lamppost out of the ground, and swung it at Scarlet. The red girl was now on the defensive, moving with extraordinary agility. Not quite enough, as it turns out, when the Siberian clipped her and sent her sprawling.

Siberian came in, slamming the post down on her opponent again, and again, and again. On the fourth time she lifted the post, though, she paused. Where had...

In a burst of red and black light, Scarlet appeared behind Siberian, blade extended and all the way through Siberian's body. It was hard to see, from this distance, but it looked as if the red girl was entirely unhurt, like every hit the Siberian inflicted meant nothing. Even as Siberian turned, Scarlet flapped her wings, getting some distance between her and the infamous invincible member of the Nine.

Magnificent.

A small smile graced his lips. So much potential, all in one package. Why do you even pretend to be a hero? Granted, most of the villains of this boring world weren't much better, but this girl had been given the power to almost literally bring hell to Earth and this is what she choose to do with it? It was disgraceful, all she _could_ do compared to what she was doing? Jack would fully _enjoy_ enlightening her. Shatterbird had done some damage, and been killed for it. But the damage done would sink into the red girl's mind, all these thoughts of _I could have done more._ It would make it all the easier when he and Bonesaw got to work.

Now that there was an opening, Jack simply had to add her to his company. All he would need to do was bring her around to his perspective, and he always managed that in the end. There were a lot of ways to do it. Convincing people usually worked, Jack had a peculiar knack for it. Others needed more...vigorous work, usually involving Bonesaw hooking up a car battery to the brain for a while. Jack doubted the latter would be needed here, though. All this power, and she can't save everyone. And those they do save would stare at her, silently blaming her for all those she couldn't save. The resentment builds, and sooner or later, she gives up trying to be good, and revels in destruction.

Jack had seen it many, many times. Some of them he even caused.

Hell, half the work was already done for him. She was a nightmare to behold as it is, she'd barely have to change things at all to join the Nine. Of course, some needed more convincing than others, and he was always willing to make his lesson in cruelty as spectacular as possible. He was already brainstorming ideas for the third act to this effect (Most of them involved that Castle of hers).

Something was odd, though. He could see that she was reveling in the battle with the Siberian, but nothing more than that. There was some healthy fear, but more... exhilaration than anything else. He didn't like being this close to the fight, due to the possibility of a thrown car coming his way, but he felt he needed to be. This one was _frustratingly_ difficult to pin down, to read, to anticipate...

Siberian managed a lunge forward, got a grip, and tore the girl's left arm off. He couldn't hear anything from here, but he could hear the sound regardless in his mind. A wet, tearing wound as bone was pulled from bone. A scream of agony. He'd heard it so many times, and never got tired of it. The girl fell in a heap, then as Siberian came near, fist ready to finish her off, she vanished again, reappearing some distance away, her body trembling. Siberian picked up the severed arm, and slowly, deliberately, bit into it, chewing on the bloody stump.

Then Scarlet roared. Even at this distance, Jack _heard_ that.

A red blur. Waves of blue, ice forming around the Siberian, and suddenly Scarlet was standing some distance away again, holding her blade in _both_ hands.

Powerful regeneration indeed. Still, the Siberian was unstoppable. Jack had to respect that kind of determination. Faced with inevitable defeat, and she would fight on. She would be _magnificent_ once she saw the true way of things, once she'd abandoned these delusions about being a hero. Her powers turned her into a monstrous demon, why couldn't she see that destiny itself wanted her to join the Slaughterhouse Nine?

 _ **I see you, little man.**_

It wasn't sound, but he heard it all the same. The last time he heard something like that was when Screamer was a part of the group. He quickly slid a knife from his jacket, turning to look. With all the damage Shatterbird did, the projecting voice could be coming from anywhere.

 _ **Such a shame, little Jack. Such potential wasted.**_

"Who the hell are you?" Jack spoke cooly. "A little trick? Not really something you heroes are known for."

An echoing laugh. _**Hero, am I? Perhaps once. Now, I simply am.**_

Jack turned this way and that, looking around the destroyed office that was his lookout. Nothing here, there, nor the next room...

Then he turned back to the window, and nearly stumbled off his feet. A figure stood there, hair white as snow, wearing a long black overcoat, ornately decorated with silver and gold, open to show his bare chest. His face was twisted into a contemptuous sneer, the eyes a deep, hellish red.

"Ah." Jack said, a carefree smile on his lips. "Neat trick, indeed. Teleport? Mind games? Hologram? All sorts of neat things around, if you know what to look for. Might I have the name of such a theatrical guest?"

A slight tic came from the corner of the man's mouth. "It's a real shame, Jacob. I can sense it on you. My touch, twenty years old. Faded. Weak. And filled with contempt."

Jack blinked. It had been a long time since he felt even slightly off his game. "I'm pretty damn sure I've never seen you before in my life."

A long laugh, filled with cruel humor. "Oh, I'm sure you remember, _Jack._ The moment you were touched by the fragment of the abomination. The power you wield even now. When it touched you, _my_ power did as well." His lip turned up into a smile. "It touched you, evaluated you, and you were found _wanting."_ He pointed outside, where the demonic girl and the invincible woman were tearing up the city block in their futile battle with each other. "You are up against something of which you have no comprehension. You face your end, and you are too _blind_ to see it. Idiot _._ "

With a glower, Jack flicked his knife, his power arcing out. The extended cutting edge simply...passed through, doing nothing.

The man, if anything, seemed amused. "I have spent ages beyond counting manipulating the fragments of the beast that grants you your powers. I had not thought I might do so again, but your power _begs_ to be called. It reached to me, across a void you cannot comprehend."

Jack slid the knife away. "Neat trick, but if you're not really here, I don't have to worry about you, now do I? Care to join me in watching the show? Because this one's _fun_."

In a blink the man was standing directly in front of him, his fingers digging into the flesh underneath his chin. Jack froze as he felt the cold biting into his head as the man spoke, his words echoing harshly through his mind. "I do not need to be physically here for one such as you, little man. For I am Dracul, Lord of Darkness. I am the thing you pretend to be with you disgusting little mockery."

Dracul roughly pushed Jack with his hand, and for all of him telling himself it wasn't real Jack still stumbled from it. He rubbed his neck as he glared at the apparition in anger. "If you are a 'Lord of Darkness', as you say, then you would understand what I'm doing. I'm showing the world how it really is. It's _fucked_ up. I'm just stripping away the veneer of civility to show what people really are. We're monsters, all of us. I've just embraced it. I can show everyone how much _fun_ it is. I've felt the sheer joy of being without rules, without limits. I know the rush of unlimited freedom. Everyone trembles when I come to town. Can you say the same?"

Dracul cut him off with cruel laughter. "Oh, I know well the seduction of warfare. The joy of cutting a bloody swathe through my foes. Of seeing my enemies cower and tremble at my name. But you? You are a tiny _gnat._ For what end is your carnage pushed towards, hm? You commit horror after horror, and there is no purpose beyond your own pathetic pleasure. I learned much through my successor's eyes, and you little man are no different than countless others that have walked both mine and your world. Scrambling around pointlessly, biting everything that crosses your path, like a _rabid dog._ "

"Hardly rabid." Jack smiled. "I know exactly what I'm doing. I will be known as one of the greatest men in history. The greatest monster of modern times. People will know my name a millennium from now. How many of the little peons down there are going to be remembered, hm? They're going to be lost in history, forever, as if they never were. At least when I kill them, they have the honor of being another number attached to _my_ name."

Dracul simply smiled, a cruel, contemptuous thing. "Immortality through fame. Fool. Leaving a pathetic mark with no rhyme or purpose. A child befouling his bed, if only to ensure no one else will sleep in it." Dracul's hand was suddenly around Jack's neck again, the vampire pushing forward, slowly, relentlessly, until Jack's back hit the wall. "None will make a statue of you. There will be no kingdom of yours. You will be reviled, and the scars of those you've harmed will heal, and within a _century,_ no one will care that you lived."

The hand around Jack's throat tightened, and Jack struggled to take in air.

Dracul leaned in closer, his voice intense. "You have watched her, yes? Do you wish to know something interesting?"

Jack gurgled.

Dracul's smile widened. "My power touched many when searching for a worthy successor. Thousands bear the slightest scent, the faintest marking, of when I sent it to search for one to sit upon my throne. _You_ are one, _Jack._ You could have been the Dragon. You could have led this world into a new age, changed it to your vision. But you are a pathetic _child._ You would have been consumed by my power, ran around with it like an idiot, fulfilling every small whim, and _never_ having a vision greater than simple _destruction._ I can see in your _mind,_ little man. Your dreams are _small._ Your excuses are flimsy justifications to let yourself spill blood and giggle at the horror you sow. You did not begin this with a _prize_ in mind _,_ you do all this for the pleasure of it, nothing more."

Dracul was suddenly on the other side of the room. And Jack...quickly pulled his own hand away from his throat. He looked at his hand in fear, breathing heavily for a moment before he looked at Dracul.

The pale man grinned, his pointed fangs prominent. "In a millennium, there will be those who serve the Scarlet Dragon. There will be those who build monuments to her glory. There will be temples to her might. But you? Take heart. You and your merry band of children _will_ be remembered, Jack. As just another cobblestone on the road to _her_ kingdom. One name among many, no more noteworthy than any other."

Jack's hand trembled, before it stilled. His tone was dangerous as he spoke. "We'll see about that, won't we? I'll take your precious little dragon and turn her to the proper way of thinking. I'm sure she'll make a magnificent little guard dog for Bonesaw. She'll be a happy little psychopath, running around with my illustrious partners, soaking in the blood of everyone she comes across and reveling in it. Or how about having her turn those beasties on that island of hers loose? I can see the fires rising everywhere already!"

Dracul's grin widened, filled with mirth. "You still do not understand. One does not _collar_ a dragon, little man. You are an annoyance, nothing more. In all your time wandering and murdering, you have accomplished _nothing_ of respect. People fear you, but there are _none_ who would follow your ideals without being as broken as you first." The smile dropped. "When I discovered a _god_ ruined my life, I sought to kill that god. It took me eight centuries, but in all that time, every drop of blood I spilled was toward that ultimate end. The chance to end him. You? You simply kill. When I faced the abyss, I walked into it, letting it subsume me. My entire world feared my hatred. You, the _moment_ you discovered the world was not what you believed, threw yourself into it without a care. You blinked. You _broke._ And instead of being relieved, you decided to make the world the nightmare you believed it was. _Pathetic._ "

At Jack's shocked expression, Dracul barked out a laugh. "Yes, I _know._ Your mind is open to me, _Jack._ You show others the abyss. You drag them down to your level. You break them and twist them and turn their souls into twisted mockeries of your own, and you do it for the simple _pleasure,_ regardless of the lies you tell yourself. You have _nothing_ but your own twisted thrills and pathetic delusions. But she? Ah...she is _more_ than that. She can _master_ the darkness. As I only did _long_ after I fell to it. You are beneath me, little man. And you are beneath her."

Dracul vanished.

Jack stood there, and for a long terrifying moment, he felt uncertain and alone. Then he began to chuckle, drawing his knife once more. "Well then...we'll see how high I can reach. We'll see if she's so goddamn unbreakable."


	62. Family 6-8

A/N: Still alive folks. I know the updating's been slow here. The reason? This arc's been very revision-heady, and cleaning up and updating a single chapter repeatedly is draining. It's finished now, so we'll catch up again here.

* * *

Fuck fuck fuck. Well, the good news was that the Void Sword helped sate my hunger, energizing me every time I struck the Siberian. I could feel an immense amount of energy through it, and with every stroke of the blade, enough of it flowed to me to keep me in top condition. That's despite the fact she already had _ripped off my own arm and bit a chunk out of it._

Good thing I can heal, indeed. I was on my third right arm, now. That's kinda messed up.

The bad news was that Siberian didn't seem to give the slightest fuck about how many times I sliced through her. My sword could pass through her, but it didn't slow her down, didn't hurt her visibly, and didn't stop her from countering me. She was astonishingly fast, though clearly inexperienced when it came to actual fighting. I guess when you're invincible, you never have to learn how to really fight. Just plow through the opposition.

" _Assistance is enroute."_ Armsmaster's voice came over the earpiece. I wanted to take a look at the bus, but I simply couldn't afford to take my eyes off Siberian for an instant.

"Don't worry about me! Just get those people out of here!" I yelled. Siberian took advantage of my distraction and slammed into me, sending me flying through the air. I gave a flap of my wings and righted myself in the air, slamming my feet up against a wall. I gave Siberian a feral smile as I stood there on the wall, as if it was the ground, and delved into Dracul's memories once more.

 _My will is the storm._

I gathered lightning in my fingers and cast it at the Siberian, striking the invincible woman with a blinding flash. At least I hoped it was. I teleported over her, hovering high in the air, and stayed silent, manifesting the Void Sword.

She looked around for a moment, then turned toward where I could see Alucard, Vicky, and Aegis all pushing the bus, now ignoring the Endbringer shelter. They were making more progress than they had been before I showed up, maybe I'd ripped something loose earlier. Maybe it was just the desperation of seeing the invincible serial killer stepping slowly, casually toward them.

Meridia dropped down in front of the Siberian. The striped woman paused, tilting her head. I imagined she looked amused.

The succubus stared at the serial killer. I could imagine what she was doing, trying to look as alluring as possible while wearing a suit of platemail...and it was working. If she ever took on a job as a model of _any_ kind she'd sell anything.

Siberian didn't seem to care, though, and lifted a fist.

I made my objection to that clear as I teleported behind her, driving the Void Sword through her body with one hand and attempting to electrocute her with the other.

The Siberian stiffened, but didn't seemed to be all that annoyed. Even as she began to turn to face me, though, Meridia made her move. She grabbed the Siberian's cheeks and kissed the serial killer.

Wait, what?

Even the Siberian seemed to be taken aback for a moment. Then her body relaxed, giving me just another moment with the Void Sword draining her of energy.

Then the Siberian _moved._ Meridia fell to the ground with a scream as the Siberian ripped both her arms away. I was forced to dart back as the Siberian nearly took my head off with a swipe, using Meridia's arms as weapons. I slashed at her as she advanced on me, the pace and movement of her attacks speeding up as I was forced to keep distance between us.

Fireballs smacked into the Siberian's side. Alucard stood on the sidewalk, Crissaegrim in hand, his blade covered in frost. The Siberian lunged at him, and he vanished in a swirl of flames a little distance away. He ducked as the Siberian struck at his face, moving with extraordinary speed and precision, the Siberian failing to hit him by inches. She seemed determined to beat the vampire to death with Meridia's arms, and he was making that _very_ difficult indeed.

As the Siberian chased after him, I went to Meridia and crouched at her side. Meridia's face was a mask of pain, and she struggled to speak. "I am...sorry, my lady. I failed you. The striped one...No _, no soul,_ my lady. I tried to take her soul, but she has none."

Great, just great. Like that's much help right now! How can I use _that?_ What the hell does a lack of a soul mean?

Get a grip, Taylor. Meridia's going to die on you! I gently put my fingers to her lips. "Don't try to talk." Carefully, gently, I picked her up and carried her over to the bus, keenly aware of her rich blood running from the hideous wounds from the remnants of her shoulders.

Fuck fuck fuck! Why couldn't everyone heal like me?

I got to the bus. Vicky and Aegis were pushing it, inch by inch along the road, the damn thing squealing horribly. Amy took one look at us, and her eyes widened. She came out to me and helped me carry my wounded servant inside. Curious, and horrified looks came our way as the frightened civilians stared at us. Cherry looked at Meridia with dull shock, while Clockblocker made a coughing sound.

Amy gently touched Meridia's face, then she looked at me. "This is bad. She's lost a lot of blood, her heart's weakening." With a look of concentration, Amy formed a pair of black plates in the palms of her hands and put them over the hideous wounds. At my expression, she spoke softly. "I can't seal the injury perfectly. Just buy time. If she doesn't get a lot of blood to replace what she lost..."

Fuck. I looked down at Meridia, an idea trickling in from the back of my head. One I didn't like much, but...

Damn it. Demon or not, Meridia deserved better.

I knelt over Meridia, keenly aware of the eyes on us. I whispered softly. "Meridia, I am going to give you my blood. I want you to live. You know the consequences?"

Meridia's voice was weak, but she nodded faintly. "I...would be honored..."

I called upon the Shadow Whip. Carefully, using my body to block the direct line of sight for most of the passengers, I used it to feed her a mouthful of my blood. She swallowed nearly reflexively. I gave Amy a nod and gestured to the plate covering the stump of Meridia's right arm. Amy pulled it away, and I used my control over my own blood to press more of mine into Meridia's body. I could feel my reserves draining as I did, my hunger growing.

I felt a growl grow deep in my throat. I knew _exactly_ how I was going to feed myself again.

Meridia's breathing steadied and slowed somewhat. Maybe as a demon, she could handle things a bit better. Or maybe my vampirism made no damn sense. I got to my feet, looked around the bus and cleared my throat. "I know everyone's had a really, really bad day. Know this. This is going to be the Nine's _last_ day _._ "

A few hesitant smiles were sent my way.

Clockblocker gave me a clap. "Not the best speech I've ever heard, but I love it anyway." Then he coughed and held his side, where the blood soaked through his costume. "Now that was a bad idea."

"Quit yapping in there and someone help me move this fuckin' thing!" Vicky yelled.

I could hear a distant explosion from down the street. Alucard must be keeping Siberian pretty busy.

Then the distinctive whine of a Tinkertech motorcycle reached my ears. Clockblocker perked up and waved out the front window as Armsmaster pulled out in front of it. "Hey, boss! Glad you could join the party!"

Armsmaster turned slightly, hit something on the handlebars of his bike, and a pair of grappling hooks fired from the back. They dug into the bus' front, and Armsmaster revved the engine on his bike. The combined efforts of Vicky, Aegis, and Armsmaster's bike helped make the bus slide forward much more quickly. Though not _quite_ as quickly as when I was in my dragon shape.

I gave Amy a nod. "Take care of her."

Amy nodded back, her eyes filled with worry. "You take care of yourself."

I teleported out of the bus, then literally flew down the street. I managed to catch sight of Alucard, my vampiric friend still keeping up the deadly dance with the Siberian. At some point, she had dropped Meridia's arms in favor of using an entire car as a weapon, slamming it down on the pavement repeatedly, forcing him to dodge. I gave her a slash across the back with the Void Sword, and she turned to try and retaliate, the pavement cracking as she slammed her invulnerable makeshift club down.

I'd already gone past her though, grabbed Alucard, and moved further up the street.

He gave me a grimace. "I am uncertain how to harm this one. Even the Crissaegrim cannot pierce her flesh."

I nodded. "I'll buy us time. Get to Armsmaster."

He gave me the faintest nod, then he pulled me to the ground. An instant later, the Siberian's car went sailing over my head. I floated back to my feet. He looked slightly embarrassed, but nodded, vanishing in a swirl of flame.

I looked at the approaching Siberian, and manifested the Void Sword once more. "Round two, _bitch._ " I just had to buy a few minutes. Maybe I couldn't take her out quickly, but I _could_ make her work for it.

Still, the advantage was hers. She could take my head off. I wasn't sure I could survive that. I wasn't in any mood to find out, either. We seemed to be stalemated, but it was an unstable stalemate at best. She just had too many advantages at the moment.

Siberian seemed to realize it, too. A slight smirk was on her lips as she strode toward me confidently. She dashed toward me in a blur, the pavement cracking beneath her invulnerable feet. I flowed backward, slashing with the Void Sword at her extended arm, doing everything I could to keep out of her reach.

If I could keep this up long enough, I could probably win. The problem was...I could feel the energy from that fragment powering the Siberian, and it would take hours for me to drain it dry. And she likely only needed one good hit to bring me down. There was _way_ too much resting on luck, here.

Siberian picked up a van by the rear bumper and slammed it down on me. Well, on my position. I flowed my way backward and _only_ got clipped by the front bumper, which was enough to bounce me off the road and bounding helplessly some distance. I managed to take on my mist form _just_ before I would have otherwise hit a wall, and what would have been a painful impact just became a lot of discomfort.

I reformed, and Siberian stalked toward me, van in hand like an oversized club. It didn't even look dented. Fucking cheating powers _bullshit._ Well, at least she was coming at _me_ and not one of the more fragile people near the bus she was going after. Maybe I could lure her.

I flowed out of the way as Siberian slammed the van down, powdering concrete before the blow. I took some distance, ignited my claws and threw a few fireballs at her, more out of experimentation than anything, trying to see if they would bother her.

Naturally, the Siberian weathered the hit without blinking. Even the van in her hands was completely undamaged. The bitch actually looked amused.

I sighed. "Well, worth a shot."

Siberian simply shrugged a little. She walked toward me, then threw the van at me. I teleported upward, out of its path, and it smashed and rolled its way across the street, smashing into a storefront. I half expected the van to explode, but...nope. No explosion. It did make a rather impressive crash at the back of the store, though.

I dodged back as Siberian lunged for me, the Void Sword slashing through her body. She was _fast._ And growing faster, rage filling her face. She wasn't skilled in her attacks, but it really didn't matter. With the way she was moving, all I had to do was slip once and she'd get me.

Siberian ripped a no parking sign out of the street and swung it at me. I flashed into mist for an instant, letting it pass through me, then striking with my sword when she was off balance.

I had only an instant to realize I'd made a mistake.

Even as she turned, Siberian slammed her foot down on the pavement. The ground dropped out from beneath me, and we both fell into the sewers below. I managed to stop myself before splashing into a pool of something unpleasant, hovering just above the river of filth. But that gave Siberian the chance to hit me on the side of the head with the sign, sending me reeling and crashing into a slime-covered wall.

Oh, god, it stinks even more up close.

I teleported away just before she could hit me with a follow-up strike, the sign burying itself into the sewer wall. The Siberian stood on top of the foul water, walking my way without the slightest care. And my head was ringing, my eyesight blurry, with that rather painful hit. I'm pretty sure she broke my neck, judging from the way it felt as the injury healed itself.

Fine. I'll cheat. Since she so happily cheats too.

On her next lunge toward me, I slid to the side and opened a Shadow Portal. She had _just_ enough time to look startled before she plunged into it. I closed it behind her. Let's see how she likes falling forever in a random place in the middle of nothingness. That's for munching on my arm, you fucking _bitch._

I took deep breaths, slowly coming down from the excitement of the fight. I'd just gone toe-to-toe with the _Siberian_ and won. The one who managed to take on _Alexandria_ and make the world's most famous Brute feel it.

Whoa. And I'm feeling lightheaded. Or that could be the world spinning around from the whack she gave me. Ow.

I cleared my throat. "Siberian handled. Not dead, but she's in my plane." I took in deep breaths of the air, shuddering a bit. Adrenaline rush. Or...whatever equivalent my undead body had. Though I certainly did _not_ appreciate the smell down here. Whatever, I felt _energized,_ a lot like right after I'd stabbed the Simurgh's core with the Void Sword. Though, thankfully, to a lesser degree. Still, I felt like I could take on the world.

I waited a moment, then frowned. "Hello? Anyone copy? Alucard? Armsmaster? Vicky?"

With silence being my answer, took off my helmet. Well, _tried._ The damn thing was smashed in on the side. With a growl, I dissolved it, returning it to my reserves of blood, then felt around the earpiece. When I took it out, I discovered it was in three pieces.

Wait. Four. I winced as I pulled another bit out of my ear. Ow. Hadn't noticed with my head ringing, and all that.

I turned and moved to get back to the hole in the sewers we made when we crashed down here. Had to try and get in contact with the others. Hopefully we could get everything in order, finish off the rest of the fucking Nine.

And that's when a striped fist burst through my chest.

I looked down at it dumbly. That is not supposed to be there. Most definitely not supposed to be there. Huh. Weird. It doesn't even hurt that much.

The hand was ripped out, and I was pushed into the filth-filled water. Gross.

Oh. And there's the pain. Strange, it still doesn't hurt that much. I mean, it _hurt_ , but I thought it would hurt a lot more than this. You'd think a big hole in the chest would be agonizing, but it was more...well, yeah, agonizing, but also _fucking annoying._

Also...someone _finally_ managed to make me just stop giving the slightest shit.

The Siberian's bare foot came near my head. Lifted. I knew she was about to stomp down and try to end me. I flashed into mist and channeled every emotion I had into the Void.

My mist turned icy. Frost build on the sewer walls. The Siberian looked startled as I leeched energy from her, refilling my own strength. Then I felt myself weakening again as she did...something, tearing at the substance of my mist, so I teleported away and reformed my body, Void Sword in hand. The pain was gone, and I tilted my head slightly.

"You're a fucking _pain._ " I ground out. "What does it take to put you out of commission? A fucking Death Star?" How the hell had she gotten out of the Shadow Plane? Fucking soulless _bitch._ Whatever that means.

Siberian's eyes narrowed.

In a blink, she was coming right at me, faster than before, not bothering to throw a punch at all, merely charging forward. I teleported behind her an instant before impact, and she plowed right through the nearest sewer wall without resistance. The sewer began to groan and creak alarmingly, so I sought for space above and teleported up.

Yeah, I still didn't want to be stuck in a tight space. Especially with the _fucking Siberian_ after me.

I found myself on the street once more, the pavement cracking and groaning beneath me as the damage we'd done showed. I let my grip on the Void vanish for a moment, gently feeling my chest. My armor had been completely destroyed by the hit, and I grimaced as I forced my blood to flow out and fix the damage. Might not stop a hit from Siberian, but anything _else,_ it would help.

And...that was an odd looking fog. Red mist was rolling toward me. Fucking hell, could this day get an...no, no, no, do _not_ finish that thought! Yes it can!

If my damn earpiece wasn't wrecked, I'd be able to know what the fuck was going on.

Siberian passed through the pavement in front of me. I lifted the Void Sword, readying myself for her lunge.

But she didn't lunge. She dusted herself off, glared at me, and walked away, her nude figure slowly obscured by the thickening red fog. I took a moment to gather myself, breathing heavily as my fingers tightened on the blade in my hands.

I wasn't likely to win another clash like that. Not with how much she could shrug off. So why the hell did she break off?

And that mist really stinks. I lifted myself off the ground and flew upwards, reaching high above the tallest skyscraper in the city. I hovered above it all, and a sinking feeling grew in my gut as I saw the mist flowing through the streets and spreading with unnatural ease. Bonesaw's work, it had to be.

But what was it?

...and I really needed a shower. I stank worse than the damn mist did.

Wait a sec.

I shifted into mist, then called upon my hellfire. I could feel the extreme heat flowing through me, along with the hatred that made it up, searing the...ugh, _stuff_ I'd fallen into. Then I teleported some distance away and reformed myself.

Well, my claws were out, burning on my hands, but I felt clean, at least. That red mist still stinks badly, though.

Still wanted a shower, but first, I needed to rejoin the others. And I could only hope we could figure out how to fix this complete mess.


	63. Family 6-9

Endbringer Shelter 917-A. It wasn't the same one the bus had been headed toward before I got sidetracked by the Siberian, but that didn't matter much. The shelters were equipped to about the same degree, so it would still be a good place to settle everyone down and tend to the wounded. I'd hoped I'd never have to step inside one of these. Before my resurrection, it was because I didn't want to have to sit things out while an Endbringer went and trashed my home.

Nowadays, it was simply because the thing was underground, and built _very_ hardy. As a result, it was tight, and cramped, and I was keenly aware of the dirt above me. It wasn't _quite_ as bad as, say, an elevator would be, but I _did not like tight spaces._ Least I'd find myself inside a corridor rather than an actual box, but...yeah. Issues.

Still, I had to go in. I found the bus resting outside, enshrouded by the red fog. The door was sealed shut, but that wasn't much of an obstacle to me. I teleported past the door...and came face to edge with a very sharp sword that was on fire. Alucard looked at me for a moment, then withdrew the blade.

"My apologies." He spoke. "The mist seems to affect the minds of mortals, they cannot recognize each other. Or us. Amara and I are unaffected, as are the ones wearing the amulets of Light, so I am standing guard. Amara is attempting to help the wounded, as much as she can. The others are deeper within. Did you manage to slay the striped one?"

I shook my head and grimaced. "No. I could hurt her with the Void Sword, drain that thing giving her power, but I'd have to fight her for another hour at least. Meridia tried to take her soul, but apparently, she doesn't _have_ one. Considering she's one of the fucking Nine, I'm not _that_ surprised, but...fuck." I smacked my fist into the wall. "Even tried dropping her in the Shadow Plane. She came back and punched through my body."

Alucard was stock-still for a moment. "No soul? Are you certain that is what she said?"

I nodded. "That's what she said. While bleeding everywhere..." I took a deep breath. "I gave her my blood. She was going to die otherwise."

He stilled, and then his expression darkened. "That explains the change in her scent." Gently, he placed a hand on my shoulder. "I understand your reasons, Taylor. But to turn a demon into a vampire is...unpredictable. We will have to watch her carefully, when she rises."

I sighed. "Yeah, well...Meridia deserves better. She's been loyal and willing to learn this whole time. She saw I couldn't just take out the Siberian quickly, but did what she could to try and stop her anyway."

He looked at me, his yellow eyes filled with concern, but he nodded after a moment's consideration. "We will have to deal with the situation, then. As for the striped one..." He folded his fingers, his gaze distant. "To have no soul would mean she has no mind. This 'Siberian' would be an automaton, with no more will than an empty bucket."

I shook my head. "She definitely responded when Meridia kissed her. And then she tore Meridia's fucking arms off." I growled a little, seeing the moment again in my mind's eye. _Nobody_ hurt someone I cared about.

He thought deeply for a moment, then muttered something. He paced back and forth, his coat swishing a bit over the ground. "To respond, and yet to be immune to the drain of a succubus...a mind with no soul?" He looked at me intently. "The Void Sword drained her regardless, aye?"

I nodded, feeling confused. "Yeah. Why is this relevant, Alucard? She's stupidly invulnerable to Meridia, just like...well, everything else that's been thrown at her over the years."

Alucard scowled. "Sometimes I forget that which is common knowledge upon my world is not common knowledge here. Minds build souls, and souls build minds. They are interconnected. The souls of simple minds are simple, as well. Just as the mind of an infant is a simple thing, so too is the soul of one. The same goes for certain other things...a river, a burning mountain, the world itself. The souls of animals are more complicated, more _defined_ , than the souls of such things, and the soul of an adult person is more complicated still. One _cannot_ have a mind as complicated as a human and yet have no soul. To say that this is possible would be like...having blood with no water in it. With no water, blood ceases to be blood. With no soul, a complex mind ceases to be a complex mind. It breaks down, becomes fragmented, and the person loses all they are. What grows in its place is a new soul, with but the faintest memories if before the last one was devoured...that is, if the person lives through the pain of it at all."

I clenched my teeth. "So...what?"

Alucard smiled faintly. "That this Siberian responded to both Meridia and my father's blade, means she has a mind, and therefore a soul. Simply that she has managed a separation between the two. Upon my world, it was done by a few, desperate to become undead without being beholden to the Lord of the Vampires." His smile grew broader. "What we are looking for is the equivalent of a phylactery. Some vessel in which she stored her soul, and thus granted her power beyond that which she could have otherwise. The Siberian is a phantom, bound to an object. That is why she escaped from the Shadow Plane, she simply resummoned herself from her vessel. Find the object and destroy it, and we shall destroy her."

I looked at him dubiously and crossed my arms. "Powers don't work the same way as magic did, Alucard."

He nodded. "Indeed, but it is a starting point. To end the Siberian, we need to find her soul, and destroy its vessel. Only then will she fall." His lip quirked. "Unless you believe you can battle her for another few hours without making a mistake, that is our best option."

* * *

I was mulling that over as I went further inside the shelter. I wanted to see how everyone was before I went back on the attack. And to get in contact with the good guys, because the last thing I needed was for one of the heroes to hit me over the head out there while I hunted what remained of the Nine.

And then I nearly ran into Armsmaster.

"State your name!" Armsmaster barked, holding himself at the ready. His halberd was in hand, pointed directly at me, his broad shoulders nearly filling the doorframe.

I blinked and lifted my hands. "Scarlet Dragon. You know me, Armsmaster."

He shifted slightly, a few servos in his feet whirring as he did. "How did we first meet?"

I felt my irritation grow. "When you accused me of being an imposter and I smacked you in the face with a whip made of my own blood." I caught myself, sighed and shook my head. "Sorry about that."

Slowly, he lowered the weapon, then he tapped the side of his helmet. "Scarlet, welcome back. I was worried when your transmitter stopped responding." He said curtly.

I shook my head. "Siberian broke it. She just...left, though. We couldn't kill each other. What the hell was that all about?"

His lips turned to a frown as he looked down at his halberd. "I've had to program my heads-up-display to label everyone I look at, but I can't even find identities out from the images from the files because I _can't_ recognize them. It's this mist, some kind of biological agent. Definitely Bonesaw's work. As of now, the city's under quarantine. We can't risk anyone leaving the city while carrying this infection." He grimaced. "She doesn't tend to make non-lethal measures. Some of the Wards seem immune...I think it's the amulets. I'd take one myself, but they need it more." His grimace turned into an outright scowl. "It's the only thing keeping...keeping...that girl alive, right now."

I blinked. "Great. That's just great." How the hell am I supposed to fight a freaking _cloud?_ If I made it rain, this stuff might get pulled out of the air, but it'd just flow down and infect the sewers and boil up again later. Or get spread around by the storm I built. Least the amulets could help, but there wasn't enough to help everybody.

He nodded behind him. "The Wards are inside. Your servant is resting, as is her daughter." He tilted his head slightly. "Something is strange, there... I feel like I should know her. But I don't. I hope the damage this mist causes can be fixed."

I grimaced. "Me too. It'll have to wait."

I went inside, followed the scent of blood, and found Amy sitting with Vicky, Aegis, and Gallant in a concrete room. Cherry was sitting there with the same older man as before, gently dabbing his bleeding forehead with a cloth. She gave me a hesitant smile. Meridia's head was in Amy's lap, while Vicky was gently tending to the stump of Gallant's left arm. The teen hissed and winced as Vicky dabbed a cloth over the sealed wound, the smell of disinfectant strong in the air. Clockblocker was with Vista, and thankfully, she was looking better, though still unconscious. They hadn't yet taken the spear of glass from her chest.

Seriously, _fuck the Nine._ Nobody deserved this shit, but least of all Vista.

"What the hell is going on?" I spoke.

Amy looked up, her face filled with relief. "Meridia's in the middle of regeneration."

I looked at the still demoness, clenching my hand. "You sure?"

Amy nodded. "I'm sure. It's not easy to see, but she's going to be okay. Different, but okay."

Clockblocker gave me a wave, the amulet around his neck blazing brightly. "Hey demon-girl. Did you get the invincible bitch?"

I shook my head. "Sadly, no. She actually lives up to her reputation."

Vicky looked at me, then frowned a bit. "You sure that's Red? I can't tell."

My lip twitched. Oh, screw it. I smiled. "Still owe you a bucket of ice cream."

Vicky visibly relaxed a bit. "All right, got it. Jeez, this shit's weird. I can remember _doing_ stuff with people, but I can't recognize anybody I did them with. Too bad you haven't gotten her." A slight smile was on her face, her voice teasing. "You slipping a bit?"

I chuckled. "Nah. Some people just cheat more than me."

Gallant spoke softly, his voice weak and filled with pain. "I'm sure we can figure something out. At least we know who we are."

Amy spoke, her voice filled with conviction. "Vicky, you should give her your earpiece. Until we figure out how to fix this thing Bonesaw's done, I don't think you're going to be much good out there."

Vicky frowned, biting her lip in consideration, before she nodded. "Right. That...makes sense. I damn well hope this is the right thing, though, because I _hate_ this memory bullshit."

She pulled the earpiece out of her ear and tossed it to me. I caught it, reflexively wiped it, and put it in. "Check, check. Scarlet on Glory Girl's transmitter."

I heard Miss Militia answer. _"_ _We read you. Glad to have you back on the line."_

Piggot's harsh voice hit next. _"_ _Everyone report in."_

" _Assault here. I'm...uh...in a park? Got a bit turned around. And this pretty lady here keeps hitting me."_

A growl came over the line. _"_ _Battery here. At Knoxville park with Assault. Idiot took a dose of that red mist. I haven't been exposed, but he's out of it. We're heading to staging area A."_ A momentary pause, then Battery's voice sounded worried. _"_ _Best guess, though...that mist will hit the staging area in about half an hour. I'm trying to arrange an evacuation, but there's a thousand people here. We're not going to get everyone moving in time, and with this infection...I'm worried about maybe spreading this stuff elsewhere."_

" _Dauntless here. Team's injured from Shatterbird, and the mist is here. Miss Militia and I seem immune, and those amulets seem to be able to prevent it from infecting people. We're heading to the PRT building with the wounded team."_

" _Paladin here with Velocity. Mannequin's dead. He started spraying this stuff around in Brockton General. I'm fine, but Velocity doesn't recognize me. We're heading back to the PRT."_

" _Triumph here. I'm with the mayor and the city council. We're in Endbringer Shelter 376-B. Systems are running fine here, but we're trapped inside by the fog."_

" _Lady Photon here with Manpower, Laserdream and Shielder. We're moving civilians to evacuation point C."_

" _Brandish here with Flashbang. We're heading to Arcadia, managed to drive off Burnscar from downtown."_

I cleared my throat. "Scarlet here with the injured Wards, Glory Girl, Armsmaster and my group, along with about forty civilians. Some of them are infected by the mist. Siberian's still active, despite my best efforts. I've got a theory as to how we can take the Siberian out permanently, but it's only a theory. Alucard and I think the Siberian may be a projection or like a hologram."

" _Explain."_ Piggot demanded.

I grimaced a bit. "I couldn't kill her with my powers, so I tried to send her into my pocket dimension using my portals. She went in, I closed it, and about ten seconds later she was back and had punched a hole through my back. Pretty sure if it wasn't for my unique mix of powers, I'd be dead from it. There's no way she should have been able to get out of the dimension without my help, and yet she did. So..."

Piggot's voice was thoughtful. _"_ _If a projection went through a teleporter without the projector, or master generating it, the projection usually falls apart. Any idea who made it?"_

I frowned. "That...I have no idea. At the moment, though, as bad as Siberian is, this mist is a bigger problem."

Amy spoke then, catching my attention, and it sounded echoed as I heard it both right next to me and over the radio line. "Am...Amara here. It's a prion cloud, simple proteins that take other proteins to make more of themselves. It's using the bacteria in the air to self-replicate more prions. From what I can tell, they're made to block the part of the brain that lets people recognize faces and features. You can see someone, but not recognize that they're your family. Or an enemy. Or the most famous person on the planet."

Piggot's voice was serious, her tone filled with contemplation. _"_ _You're certain of this?"_

Amy's voice was a bit dry. "This is something I'm pretty good at. _Fixing_ it, though...I'm not sure how. Prions aren't alive, they're hard to dismantle. Anyone infected is going to have it built up in their brains until it overwhelms the infrastructure and the people die. An antibiotic or antiviral agent won't do anything. You can't kill the prions with heat, acid, or even radiation. Paladin's amulets seem to work, but we haven't got enough of them. And while most prion diseases take years to do damage, this thing does it within minutes."

I frowned a little, a rather horrific idea coming up from the back of my head. "Think Bonesaw could undo this work?"

Amy looked at me with a frown. "Probably. I don't think she'll have anything set up and ready to go for that, though. At best, she'd immunize herself and the rest of the Nine."

I nodded with a grimace. "We'll see about that. I'm going to get her to fix this, whether she likes it or not."

* * *

I stepped from the Shadow Portal above a house in the suburbs. I looked around, trying to figure out exactly where I was now. This prion cloud made things difficult, but I managed to orient myself.

I felt a chill as I realized where I was. I was right above Vicky and Amy's house.

Why the hell was _Bonesaw_ here? Unless...they _knew_ I was friends with Vicky. Oh god.

I flew downwards, hit the roof, then teleported inside Vicky's room, the Void Sword flashing into my hand. The mist existed here, but at such short ranges, I could see through it. It still made the house look like a twisted nightmarish parody of itself.

I smelled blood. I knew that scent intimately. I pushed open the door to Vicky's room and went through the house, following the smell of blood. I opened the door to the master bedroom and would have collapsed in horror, had I not had my blade in hand.

Bonesaw looked up at me, grinning and bouncing on her feet, her face and hands covered in blood. "Hi! Was expecting you, but not quite this fast. You're neat! How'd you track me this fast? No, wait, don't tell me. Teleporter?"

I ignored the question and looked at the horrid tableau before me. On the bed, Carol lay there, her chest cut open, and her internal organs were spread around the room. She was still alive, her eyes wide with horror. On the bedside table was Mark's head. He looked at me and blinked, his mouth moving in helpless horror, while wires and obviously-kludged Tinkertech were strewn around the room, hooked up to the pair.

Bonesaw grinned, flicking her blood-covered fingers a little as she gestured to Brandish. "You know, I heard about Panacea dying. I had wanted her for a big sister, but I suppose you can't always have what you want." She patted Carol's cheek, smearing blood on the paralyzed woman's skin. "So I thought I should make sure that the Dallons never lose each other again. You caught me just before I could put Flashbang's brain inside her. Still, imagine it. They would _always_ be together, forever and ever." Her mad smile widened. "I was going to see if I could get Glory Girl here too. Brandish and Flashbang would never have to worry about losing their daughter, and she would never have to worry about losing her parents. Isn't that nice?"

I growled deeply, taking a step into the room. "I heard Brandish over the radio line. How?"

Bonesaw shrugged. "Rather easy, really. Got her hooked up by remote, had her take in the radio transmitter when the PRT dropped it off. Kept it going while I was getting through this." She tapped a something on what looked like a TV remote.

Carol spoke, her voice surprisingly level considering the horror and pain in her eyes. "Brandish here with Flashbang. We're heading to Arcadia, managed to drive off Burnscar from downtown."

Bonesaw grinned. "Had a few pre-programmed phrases ready. Been listening to your radio chatter all night. Was interesting. How'd you figure out Aunt Sibby?"

I grit my teeth. "Fix them. _Now._ "

She tilted her head, her voice filled with seemingly honest confusion. "But I _am_ fixing them. I'm making sure they'll never be alone ever again."

I lifted the Void Sword, the blade's effect on my emotions the only reason I hadn't lunged out madly already. "You put them back together just as they were, or you'll end up in _worse_ shape than they are."

She looked over at Mark's body, lying in a corner of the room, dried blood circling around the stump of his neck. "That's going to be hard." Bonesaw spoke. "I mean, his body's been dead for about an hour now. I can fix that, but it's going to take a lot of effort." She smiled at me. "Of course, if you _really_ want that, I can do it for you. But you'll have to give me something first."

I narrowed my eyes, my voice coming out in a growl. "Like I'm about to bargain with _you._ "

Bonesaw simply smiled. "You kinda have to to get what you want. You can't kill me, because plagues will be released on my death. Try to force me, and I can just release a few anyway. Uncle Jack says it would be boring if I did that, but if I can't play, then there's no point in keeping them cooped up."

My voice darkened as I embraced the Void, pushing everything into it. The Void Sword was comfortably cold in my hand, helping me keep my mind focused. "What is it you want?"

She rocked back and forth on her feet, excitement on her blood-stained face. "Do you have any idea what you mean, here? We've had a lot of Case 53s around, and all of them are strange. Inhuman in various ways, like _you._ But you remember where you came from, and _they_ don't. I want to know where they came from. I want to know if you sent them here. I want to know just how your powers work, because they _shouldn't._ Your passenger just shouldn't _work._ "

Confusion must have shown on my face, because her smile widened. "Do you know anything about the Corona Pollentia? The Corona Gemma? The Protectorate doesn't talk about it much, but I've cut open more heads than anybody and poked around. Those who _can_ trigger, but haven't, have a Pollentia. After the trigger, they also have a Gemma. Remove the Pollentia, and a person loses control over their powers, if they had it. Remove the Gemma, and a _new_ Gemma forms with the powers being different. And worse, usually. Remove _both_ , and they lose their powers."

I glared at her, knowing my fangs were at their full length. "Get to the _fucking point_."

"Language!" Bonesaw shook a finger at me, then held up a little blinking box. "I figured out how Hatchet Face's power worked, and how to replicate it. It's really helpful when I want to work on a Brute, you know. But it's not pinging on you at _all._ It pinged on me until I filtered myself out of it, but it doesn't touch you at all. You've got no Pollentia or Gemma, and yet you have powers. _Why?_ Let me know why? Pretty please? Your power isn't like ours. I wanna see how they work! Let me see, please! I'll put them back together if you do! I'll put you back together perfectly, I swear!"

I fixed the girl with a hard, humorless stare. "No more bullshit. I'm not going to let you cut me open. You help them _now_ , or I will _make_ you do so _._ "

Bonesaw frantically hit something on her remote control. I heard the slight sounds of clinking and clanking from the side. A spider-bot launched itself at me, and I cut it in half with the Void Sword. It fell to the ground, sparking and leaking fluids, a horrified human face looking at me from behind a protective covering.

Bonesaw frowned, a pout forming on her lips. "Aww, you killed Screamy! He just had two hundred years until retirement." She huffed as she kicked her feet. "You're just not a nice guest at all! Uncle Jack and Aunt Sibby don't like you, but I wanted you with us. You know how rare it is for anyone even close to my age to join up? And I wanted to see how your citizens are, too, they'd be _neat_. I could do a lot with their help!"

My voice was cold. "Like I'm going to give the slightest shit about what murderers think about me."

Bonesaw looked disappointed. "We're not just murderers. We're family! You could be with us. You don't have to be mean with us, we can help you too. I want to know how your powers work, and together, we could figure it out and do _more_ with them. I'm willing to put Brandish and Flashbang back together, good as new, if you do! You don't have to be so mean, you know!"

I stepped up to the side of the bed, opposite from Bonesaw. "Compared to what I _could_ be? This is me being _nice. Last chance."_

I heard the clanks of more of her spider-bots coming at me from behind. I turned and destroyed them with a blast of electricity from my free hand, sending them crashing into the hallway. A weight landed on my back as Bonesaw lunged, driving a syringe into my neck. I grabbed her and held her up.

She grinned at me maniacally, struggling a bit in my grip. "You don't want to hurt me. You do and your heart'll stop."

I let out a chuckle, my fangs showing. "You're about four months late. Now you're going to help me fix all the damage you've done."

Her feet kicked at me, her voice filled with desperation. "You'd be happier with us! Trust me! I'd be your little sister and we could have so much fun! Don't you get how good all these games are? I'm not going to help you stop them! You can't make me do what you want, you know. Uncle Jack's told me _all_ about it, people don't have the right to tell me to do things I don't wanna do!"

That horrible idea grew more certain. It was the only way I could help Carol and Mark. I spoke, pity in my voice. "For what it's worth, kid? I'm sorry for this."

She looked puzzled. "Sorry for what?"

I shifted my body into blood and flowed into Bonesaw's mouth, nose, and eyes. I could feel her panic, her _fear,_ as my mind overlaid her own. She...was _fucked up,_ but still a twelve year old. I could feel her struggling as her body rolled along on the floor. She even had a backup brain striving to take back control from what I'd just done.

But my will was stronger, and my blood was in her veins. _I_ was in her veins. I carefully pulled her body up to her feet, grimacing a bit as I looked around. I'd...forgotten how big things seemed to a twelve year old. More than that, though, I could feel Bonesaw's power. Ideas flooded my head. Her head. The horrible things I could do with her intuitive knowledge. It would be simple to make a plague to kill everything human on Earth.

And only slightly harder to build a virus that would spread a gene-therapy delivery system that could fix the messed-up folding proteins that created this prion cloud. It wouldn't fix the damage done, but it _would_ be a vaccine and prevent more damage from accumulating. Maybe with Paladin's amulets, or Dragon's help, we could actually fix the problems made by the prions.

Too bad I didn't seem to have access to her memories. Then I'd know if she made more somewhere else, but right now, I had work to do. I could already feel my blood weakening Bonesaw's body. The upgrades she made to herself made it a lot more sturdy than it otherwise would be, but that wasn't much help compared to the strength of my vampiric blood.

I looked at Carol and Mark, their expressions filled with fear. "I'm sorry." I said, as sincerely as I could. "I'm going to do what I can. This...is going to be ugly." Carefully, I took Carol's earpiece, because mine was...wherever my stuff went when I shifted my body. I cleared my throat as I tapped it so I could transmit. "Check check. This is Scarlet, I have...control, over Bonesaw." And this was going to be awkward, because now I sounded like Bonesaw. Ugh.

" _You have a_ _ **Master**_ _power, too? Of course you do. What did you say when Velocity asked for you to join the Wards?"_ Piggot spoke, her voice level. I'd have _almost_ preferred it if she sounded afraid. Instead, it seemed like...yeah, just coldly pissed off.

I felt sick to my stomach. Well, to Bonesaw's stomach. I _hated_ this power. Seriously. "He didn't. The first member of the Protectorate I met was Armsmaster, and it didn't go well. Then I met him _again_ when I dropped off Lung, who was with Neptune at the time." ...and that felt like a lifetime ago, now.

There was a moment of silence, then Piggot spoke again. _"Most of us are locked down with the fog. What's the situation?"_

I grimaced and shook my head, heading to the Dallon's bathroom to get a few supplies Bonesaw's power was telling me I could use to fix them. Though how dental floss, toothpaste, bleach and an electric toothbrush would help made _no sense._ "Brandish and Flashbang were worked on by Bonesaw...it's pretty bad. I'm going to use her expertise to _try_ and fix the Dallons."

Amy's voice cut into the transmission. _"How bad?"  
_  
I swallowed hard. "Very, very bad. I can fix it, but it's going to take a lot. I could use some help here. I'm going to need some help to do this _and_ help cure this prion plague."

Amy sounded angry. _"I'll get there in twenty minutes or so. Maybe faster."_

I nodded to myself. "I've got maybe three hours at most like this. Bring whatever medical supplies you can grab, it'll make things easier and faster for fixing them. Worse, though, it looks like Bonesaw was listening in to our comms most of the night. We can only assume everything's compromised."

There was silence for a moment, then Piggot spoke. _"Understood. We'll start the security countermeasures."  
_  
I tapped the earpiece to stop transmitting, though still listening, and got to work. The first thing was the virus. I could make that with some tap water, sugars, spit, a bowl and some tweezers. It _shouldn't_ work, but apparently, Bonesaw was one of the bullshittiest Tinkers of bullshit Tinkers. Then...then I could take the hour or so I'd need to fix Carol and Mark properly.

Actually, I could do both. I grabbed Bonesaw's remote, knowing how it worked, and pressed a few buttons. I could feel her rage in the back of my head as I summoned more of her spider-bots from where they were stashed around the neighborhood. They'd get what I needed to make the vaccine while I worked on the Dallons.

Fuck the Nine.

 _They are beneath me._

Yeah, yeah, shut up.


	64. Interlude: Gallant, Amy, Vicky, Manton

"I'm going." Vicky said flatly.

Gallant groaned to himself. With the ability to recognize people suppressed, Vicky was even _more_ bullheaded than usual. He managed to talk with a lot of weakness in his voice. "It's not safe out there, Glory Girl. We haven't got a spare amulet to see if it can heal you yet." He looked down at the stump of his arm with a grimace. With Vista disabled by Shatterbird, Crawler had managed to tear his way through the PRT and managed to make a snack out of his arm, just before Clockblocker managed to land a touch and buy them enough time to get away.

Aegis looked back at Vicky, his arms folded. While he had injuries too, they didn't matter as much with his power, and one of Paladin's amulets was tucked under his costume, speeding along his natural regeneration. "Don't worry. I'll take Amara there, and I'll do everything I can."

Vicky's fingers clenched into fists. "These are my _parents._ Even if I have no idea who they are right now, I _don't care,_ and I'm not going to just fucking sit here and let them die."

Amara growled back at the blonde. To his sight, she looked odd. Or rather, she looked normal, surrounded by only a faint outline of whatever her emotional state was. It reminded him of Scarlet, though _she_ was difficult to look at. To his senses, Scarlet was a black hole surrounded by a bright corona, while Alucard and Amara simply looked normal with a fainter outline. He'd almost forgotten what it meant to look at someone without the glow of their emotions washing out some of their features.

Amara's voice was determined. "You can't recognize them, or possible threats, or anyone else right now. Jack Slash himself could walk right up to you and say he was ou..your dad, and you couldn't know."

Her voice sounded faintly familiar...and that slip of the tongue...a sinking suspicion began to grow in the back of his mind. He looked over at the prone form of Meridia, the woman in red platemail lying still. Even as he watched, the faint swirls and eddies of color in her aura were fading into the same _lack_ that Amara and Alucard had. A thought was beginning to grow in the back of Gallant's head, and he wasn't sure he liked the shape of it.

Vicky clenched her hands. "I ain't going to just sit here while I'm worrying about what these fuckers have done to my parents! I'm _going._ I don't need to recognize anybody to play attack dog, and I can get you there a lot faster than you can on your own."

Alucard spoke, his voice filled with concern. "Without the ability to tell friend from foe, it is far too dangerous for you to leave here. The enemy is not foolish, they will attempt to retrieve or avenge their comrades."

Vicky turned toward Alucard with a snarl. Her aura was turning a fiery red as anger broiled to the surface. Anger she showed with great enthusiasm. It was one of the reasons he adored Victoria Dallon, aside from the problems that came up with teen relationships. She was refreshingly straightforward, while most people were twisting messes.

Gallant coughed, making the three turn their attention to him. In his single remaining hand, he held out the Light Magic amulet that had been healing him. "Here. Maybe it'll work on fixing the plague." He croaked. "Not exactly going to see much action like this, anyway." He gestured to his injury, the stump of his left arm twitching a little.

Aegis blinked. "Gallant, you sure?"

Gallant shrugged. "I can wait. Her parents can't. This is bigger than me, and as much as the amulet's been helping me, she needs it more."

Vicky bit her lip, then took the amulet. She slipped it around her neck, and the silver object began to glow. Amara took a step back, wincing as her pale skin began to smoke on exposure to the light. Vicky seemed to realize the problem, and tucked it under her shirt. It still glowed, but the light wasn't hurting the other girl, now.

After a few moments, Vicky blinked, then looked back and forth between Amara, Aegis, Gallant, and Alucard. "Oh. Good. This thing does work." She blinked another couple of times. "Aaand now I'm going to have to apologize to Red, when I see her."

Alucard tilted his head. "Good. The amulets can work as a cure. Tis good to have the suspicion confirmed, rather than simply postulated."

Amara nodded at that. "All right, we're going." She looked to Alucard. "You coming? We could use your help."

He shook his head. "One of us must stay with Meridia. Things may be rather...unpleasant, if she awakens on her own."

Clockblocker spoke up. "Hey, long as she doesn't eat us."

At the silence, he groaned. "Seriously!?"

Amara facepalmed. "Let's just go."

"Hear hear." Aegis said.

"One sec." Vicky said, smiling a little. She bent down and gave the front of Gallant's helmet a kiss. "Thanks, G. You're my damn hero today."

He chuckled weakly. "Part of the job."

There was a flicker of emotion from the corner of his eye. The girl with the red streak in her hair, her aura turned a bright, vibrant, ugly green. Definitely jealous, but there wasn't much help for that. Blasting her with a happiness beam for a bit of very human desire wouldn't exactly be helpful.

* * *

Vicky held Amy in her hands as they came in for a landing, right in front of their house. She set her sister down, then cracked her knuckles. "All right. Let's head on up. If they come this way, I'm gonna make them regret it."

Aegis' voice was a bit wry. " _We'll_ make them regret it. I'll keep on overwatch until more reinforcements arrive. See to your parents."

Amy tapped her earpiece. "We've arrived on location." The first aid kit in her other hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. She hoped it was useful. Dread gnawed at her.

The harsh and serious voice of Director Piggot came over the line. _"_ _Good. Communications are likely compromised. Execute contingency 19-A-473."_

Amy blinked. Vicky just looked between Amy and Aegis and shrugged.

Aegis simply nodded, tapping his earpiece. "Understood."

At their looks, he tapped his earpiece again to shut it down. "It means to shut down comms, barring emergencies, and wait for reinforcements to escort us to somewhere safe. In this case, as soon as we're done here, we're supposed to head for the nearest evacuation point. That'll be along the I-95 toward Boston from here. Soon as our help arrives, and we can move Brandish and Flashbang, we go."

Amy nodded and pushed open the front door to what had been her house, Vicky following closely. Never a real home, but that wasn't really relevant now. Worry weighed down on her mind. Almost everyone had heard the horror stories about the Nine, the things they did to people. How under Bonesaw's hands, even dying wasn't a guaranteed way to escape their clutches. She knew it was probably going to be worse than she feared.

Still, as many problems she had with her adoptive mother, she didn't want to see her dead. Or worse than dead. The scent of blood was strong, and already her imagination was running wild. She licked her lips, the instinct to seek out the blood warring with her worry about those it belonged to.

With fear, the two made their way upstairs, finding the horrible sight of Carol and Mark. Bonesaw...no, _Taylor_ possessing Bonesaw was busily sewing up the paralyzed woman with...dental floss? Thankfully, the pair looked unconscious. It didn't help much with the horror of the moment, though.

" _Mom, dad!_ " Vicky shouted, her eyes wide. She barreled into the room, frantically looking over Carol's sewn-up body. To Amy's eyes, the stitching was expert, and even as Amy looked over it, the skin beneath the stitching was healing.

Vicky whirled on the possessed Bonesaw, grabbing her by the neck and holding her in the air. "What the hell did you do!?" She clenched and unclenched her fists. The only thing keeping her from attacking outright was the fact the girl's eyes were red, just as Taylor's were when she was doing...well, just about anything weird.

Taylor's voice was tired. "Saved her. Bonesaw had her organs cut out and she was surviving on Tinkertech replacements. All to make room so she could have hers, Mark's, and _your_ brains in one body. I had to cook up and use macrophages for the last part of the surgery. They're devouring the infective bacteria and converting themselves into Carol's ordinary tissue. She'll be okay, now. Despite how I found her, putting her back together was fairly simple. Physically, anyway. Mentally..." With a grimace, she looked over at Mark's head.

Vicky lifted a fist. Amy pressed her hand onto Vicky's shoulder. Vicky growled deeply, then set Taylor/Bonesaw down.

Taylor rubbed her neck as she looked to Amy. "I'm going to need help here. Fixing Carol was a lot easier, but Mark's body's been dead a while." She looked at a bowl of...something blue and frothing in the corner. "The vaccine's just about ready, too. Any idea on how to distribute it to kill this fucking cloud?"

Amy shook herself. As Panacea, she'd worked on and healed many horrific wounds and infirmities. The worst was a boy who had the misfortune of having his heart form on the outside of his ribcage.

This? This was worse than that. But not so much worse that she couldn't act. Drawing on that boiling font of anger at the sight, Amy steeled herself and nodded. "The problem is the prions are using ordinary bacteria to multiply. They shouldn't be able to, they don't normally have the right proteins, but..."

Taylor nodded, her expression looking _odd_ on Bonesaw's face. "Yeah, Tinkers are bullshit. "

Amy grimaced with a nod. "Best bet? We use the same bacteria making the prions to make the virus, instead. They've already got the right stuff, so we'd only have to tweak them a bit."

Taylor's eyes lit up. "Oh, you're a genius. And if I went and used some of the infected blood...which there's a lot of around here, we can test the solution before we release it!" Her fingers moved deftly as she cleaned the blood off Brandish's skin, cleaning her fingers with the bowl of frothy...stuff.

Finally, Taylor finished working on Brandish, and looked to Mark's head and body. "All right. Can you still heal? I know things haven't been very good as far as that goes, since..."

"Heal..." Vicky said softly. She blinked, then pulled the amulet around her neck from inside her shirt. "Could this work? Please, tell me it can work." She looked desperately between Amy and the possessed Bonesaw. Amy was forced to take a step away, grimacing at the silvery light shone forth from it.

Taylor looked at it, wincing a little, but she nodded. "Yeah. It just might help. But the prions are still around here... You could get reinfected if you take it off. We don't know if the amulets will provide lasting immunity or what."

Amy nodded, then she tilted her head. "Considering we have a vaccine, though..."

Vicky's voice was weak, frail, and sounded very much like a little girl. "Do it. I don't care anymore. Just help my dad."

Taylor noded, determination on her face. Bonesaw's face. Whatever, this was confusing. The little blonde girl held out her hand, and Vicky handed over the amulet.

After a moment, Vicky looked between Amy, Taylor, and the prone forms of her parents. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is so fucking weird. I'm good though. I can still recognize you. Frothy goop not needed. Least for the moment." She looked to Amy. "Ames..."

Amy nodded with a slight smile. "I'll do everything I can."

Taylor looked to Amy. "I'll get the tissue living again, you do the fine work of getting things reattached, one bit at a time. Then we work on the scar tissues, because if we get this wrong..."

Amy felt her hands reshaping themselves, becoming longer, thinner, and more finely controlled, in acknowledgement of her desire. "We _won't._ "

* * *

Vicky waited, wringing her hands. She knew she'd be useless trying to help upstairs, but that didn't make her feel any better. While she wasn't exactly happy at home, it was _home,_ and knowing that Bonesaw had hurt her parents...

Well, she wasn't sure she could restrain herself from pounding Bonesaw's face in, even if Red was currently occupying it.

Aegis shifted a bit nervously on his feet. "Don't like this."

Vicky nodded. "Yeah, well...how long until help gets here?"

He hummed in thought. "Shouldn't be too long, now. Problem is they can't send anyone who might get infected."

Vicky grimaced. "So that's...what?"

Aegis shook his head. "Not much, right now."

The prion cloud made things a lot more difficult than it needed to be. The whole neighborhood might as well have been nonexistent, as it was hard to see even the next house. Also...it stank. Like old gym socks, but worse. Least the few minutes she had Gallant's amulet made her immune to the stuff. If only it could have magicked up super-vision to let her _see_ through this mist. All she could do was hope it would work to help fix up her father.

Then a sound reached her, echoing somewhat peculiarly in the mist. Metal slapping on concrete. Footsteps running at higher than ordinary human speed. Vicky braced herself for whatever might emerge from the mist. Aegis floated upward, clenching his hands.

Only for a figure in white and silver armor to come into view, her boots flaring with light as she skidded to a stop on the street. She took a moment to pant, rolling her shoulders a bit. "Finally! You have any idea how hard it is to navigate around here with this shit in the air?" Paladin paused for a moment, looking between Vicky and Aegis with some hesitation. "Uh...please tell me you guys recognize me. I'm having a bad enough night as it is."

Aegis nodded, relief in his voice. "I recognize you. What's the situation?"

Paladin's voice was filled with annoyance. "Miss Milita's on her way. Dauntless too, once he finishes up ferrying some of the badly wounded back to safety. Almost everyone else is a bit stuck. Since our comms are in the badguy's hands, we need to set everyone to a new frequency and encryption." She tapped the side of her helmet. "One-four-zero point one-five megahertz, according to the Director." She then pulled another earpiece from her belt, holding it out for Vicky.

Vicky took it, switched the settings on it, then put it in her ear. "Great. Thanks." She glanced up at the window of her house. "Things are...really bad in there." She gently rubbed her eyes. The sight of her parents like that would haunt her nightmares, she knew it. It was only _slightly_ better than what her imagination had conjured up. Though that was mostly because Taylor was already mostly done with her mother.

And that's when the Siberian strode out of the mist. Aegis gulped and flew off the ground slightly, hovering in the air. Paladin readied herself, holding that Tinkertech whip at her side. Vicky took a step back, lifting her fists.

Still, without a plan, without some means of _beating_ the Siberian, they didn't have many options.

The Siberian paused in front of the three teens. Aegis hit his earpiece. "Siberian at the Dallon house, need backup now!"

Piggot's voice echoed over the line. _"_ _Retreat, now!"_

The serial killer seemed amused. She tilted her head slightly and, for the first time, spoke in public. "Amusing. But pointless. I will happily rend the three of you limb from limb and devour your bones. Step aside so I may retrieve Bonesaw, and I'll spare myself the effort."

 _She doesn't know Taylor's using Bonesaw's body._

Vicky had a reputation for not being all that bright. It wasn't true, she was smart. But she was _impulsive,_ which wasn't the same thing as stupid. She was energetic, and often had way too much enthusiasm when a given idea had her. But even on her worst day, she knew what stepping aside would mean. It'd mean the Siberian would tear what was left of her parents apart. She'd tear Amy apart.

"Fuck you." Vicky said. "You fuckers _turned my parents into horrors._ "

Well, _that_ was a stupid move. But an understandable one.

The Siberian smirked. In an instant, the striped woman was right in front of her, hand out. Tearing.

Vicky fell back with a scream. Blood gouted from the wound. Half the world was gone. Pain washed over her, pain greater than anything she'd ever known.

Almost casually, the Siberian popped the eyeball into her mouth. Chewed. Swallowed.

A line of searing light struck out, slashing the Siberian. And the invincible woman _just smirked._

Paladin twirled her whip, the weapon blazing with light. "You're not going any further."

Vicky held a hand to the ruins of her face, writhing in agony. She was only vaguely aware as the Siberian lunged at Paladin, only for the newest Ward to dodge out of the way, her boots flaring with light. The Siberian looked annoyed as she moved with inhuman speed, trying to tear Paladin apart. She managed to grab the whip as it lashed out, blazing with light, and broke the chain in half.

Paladin stumbled back, looking at the broken end of her weapon. The Siberian lunged again, nearly managing to take Paladin's head off, but she managed to dive backward in time.

Turning, the invincible woman moved toward the house, when Paladin flared with light and threw a...glass bottle? It smashed on the Siberian, a flare of light bursting outward.

The Siberian paused. Turned toward Paladin with seeming amusement. But the Ward...smiled? Her boots flaring, Paladin started running. "Aegis, Vicky, come on! We got her!"

Staggering, groaning in pain, Vicky launched herself straight into the air. Aegis took off after Paladin. Her voice echoed over the earpiece, somewhat strained as the Ward ran. _"_ _The Siberian's Master is moving! Half a mile...west, west of the Dallon house! I can sense it! My power can sense it!"_

It was hard for Vicky to see, through the missing eye and the sheer pain, but she could see the Siberian _lunge,_ moving faster than anyone had ever seen her do before. Aegis dove down, grabbing Paladin and carrying her into the air.

The Siberian still managed to get a grip on his leg and ripped it off. Thanks to his power, Aegis didn't scream in pain, nor did his concentration fail, but he _did_ waver in the air somewhat. Blood flowed from the wound before his power rerouted his physiology, keeping him from bleeding to death. Then the Siberian popped like a soap bubble.

Unsteadily, Vicky flew after the pair. She was keenly aware of the blood flowing down her face, the sheer _pain_ as she tried to keep her attention on flying. Turned out, though? Rage was one hell of an anaesthetic.

 _The Siberian fucking dies today._

Paladin pointed down, the gesture barely visible in the red mist. Aegis swooped down, and the pair landed right in front of a white van. The van's engine turned on, the lights flaring up, as it began to move. Paladin jumped onto its roof and hit it with her gauntlet, the armor piece lighting up in white fire, but it didn't do any damage to the roof.

Fucking powers _bullshit._ Vicky dove in front of the van, putting her hands on it and trying to push it back. Blurrily, she could see a man inside, him behind the wheel, with the Siberian right behind him, her hands touching the walls of the van. No matter how hard she tried to push, though, the van kept moving. It just didn't matter.

A hand gripped her arm and yanked her upward, just before the van plowed through a house. Like how the Siberian herself was famous for being unstoppable, so did the van seem to be as it went through brickwork easily, coming through the other end of the house without resistance. It skidded a bit on the grass before it got back onto the pavement, driving straight toward the Dallon house.

"Thanks Aegis, I..." Vicky began to speak, then stopped when she saw the dark blue sleeve attached to the hand that held her. Not Aegis' costume. The man let go.

He was middle-aged. His features were gentle, and there were gray streaks in his hair. And he had...big ears? He spoke softly. "Easy there. You're hurt."

Vicky growled to herself. "No shit. Who the hell are you!?"

He simply smiled and touched her cheek. Vicky grimaced, but the pain...faded. Her sight wasn't restored in her destroyed eye, but it just...didn't hurt anymore. Carefully, she reached up and felt the gaping wound. It was...sealed over, as if the injury was years old rather than minutes.

"I'm sorry. I haven't got the power to restore you fully." He looked regretful, but turned to see the van speeding away. He abruptly vanished, making Vicky waver in the air as she lost her balance. Growling in frustration, she flew after the van.

The man in blue and gold reappeared in the van's path. He gestured, and the street below the van abruptly turned to ice. The vehicle lost traction and skidded, before reorienting itself. It aimed right at the man, who simply stood in its way, impassive, crossing his arms.

It slammed into him, and... _stopped._ The van didn't crumple, it simply _stopped dead._ The unstoppable force apparently met an immovable object. The Siberian shimmered into existence on top of the van, glaring at the man in blue. The man lifted into the air, shaking his head sadly.

"Hello William." He spoke, his voice echoing as he looked at the Siberian.

She stood stock-still a moment, then sighed and looked back at him. "It's been a while. Finally decided to stop messing around?" She spread her arms. "You let me run around for ten years. You share a fair bit of the blood I've spilled."

The man in blue shook his head, sadness on his face. "The amount on your hands is a very, very small drop compared to the blood on mine. But all that ends. Change starts now. A little while ago, I'd have taken great pleasure in this. Now, though?" He uncrossed his arms and lifted a hand. A ball of light formed in it, shining white between his fingers. "I pity you."

He opened his fingers. The ball struck out, not at the Siberian, but at the van beneath her feet. It glowed with searing brightness, an absurd amount of _heat_ pouring forth. Then it vanished, leaving only melted tarmac in its place. The Siberian and her projector were gone.

The man sighed, then tilted his head skyward. "That was for Clark." He slowly lowered to the ground as Paladin stepped toward him. He tilted his head as he looked at the three teens. "Taking on the Siberian's a bit beyond you. I applaud your bravery, but you _really_ were taking on something above your abilities."

Aegis floated near Vicky, holding out an amulet for her. She winced and took it, sliding it around her neck. "Thanks."

The man looked up at Vicky, his smooth voice filled with concern. "Are you all right?"

Vicky snarled. "I'm fucking half-blind. _No, I'm not all right_."

Paladin spoke. "The amulet should help with the pain, but that kind of damage..."

The man sighed. "I'm afraid I don't have the ability to heal that." He clenched his hands, grimacing. "I think you might be able to find other options, and if I can I'll help with you. But my options are a bit limited."

Aegis spoke, his voice filled with worry and concern. "What did you do to the Siberian?"

He sighed. "I transported her projector to place he cannot survive. Even with her ability to create an invulnerable surface, and with himself inside something she can protect, there is nothing she can do. One of the Nineteen will handle things. She is gone. The Siberian is dead." The man turned to Paladin. "Your patron is a little lost at the moment. Call her. She will find her way back, but it will be much faster if you call." His head tilted slightly. "That will be key, if I understand things right."

Paladin's voice was dubious. "Right. Who the hell are you?"

A slight smile. "I am Apostle. I serve the Nineteen bound, and the One free."

Then he vanished.

* * *

William Manton, the foremost expert on parahumans in the world, looked back at his other self. The Siberian, the idealized form of his daughter, the projection he'd held ongoing for ten years. One of the most infamous members of the Nine in their history.

Now it was the only thing keeping him alive. Outside the windshield of his van was a seething bright whiteness. He'd been forced to dive into the back of the van, taking off his shirt and using it to shield his eyes. The Siberian, however, was unfazed by the sheer light. Her contact with the walls was making the van itself invulnerable, and her efforts were enough to try and move it through this mass of...something.

The outer layers of the van had melted. Thankfully, that had sealed it enough that the sheer _heat_ outside was prevented from leaking in and cooking him alive. Unfortunately, it also meant he'd run out of air very, very soon if he couldn't get _somewhere_ with fresh air. The Siberian was able to push it through this thick, dense mass, but he had no idea where he was. Things felt _light_ here. Like he was on the Moon. He'd even tried dropping his phone (stolen from a victim in Wallerton) and it fell _very_ slowly.

Suddenly, the light from outside darkened, and the travel through the hot mass outside halted. Try as he might, he couldn't get the Siberian to move anymore, not a single inch. He turned the Siberian's head to take a look out the window.

The brightness dimmed as the...substance of something flowed away from the window, allowing him a clear view. A single, immense red eye looked back at Manton. A fanged maw curled upward in amusement.

 _Behemoth had the van in his grasp._

All he could do was stare back at the Endbringer as the air grew thicker, heavier, and more stale. It took three hours before he finally lost the ability to think coherently. Finally, his eyes drooped shut as he slid into unconsciousness.

He didn't feel it as the Siberian winked out of existence. The van instantly melted in the molten iron that surrounded the Earth's core.

And Behemoth curled himself up, placed his claws on the core of the Earth, and basked in the heat that was part of his domain.

 _Soon._


	65. Family 6-10

My body shuddered. The needle in my grip nearly slipped from my fingers. I hissed as I clenched my hand, again and again, trying to re-master Bonesaw's nerves.

Amy looked up, her face filled with worry as she looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm losing it." I said. "My blood's killing Bonesaw. We have to hurry." I looked down at Mark, grimacing at the ghastly work of his body. I'd cannibalized the equipment, making Mark temporary organ replacements out of the things, while I'd worked on reanimating his dead tissue. It was difficult, trying to do this so _quickly._ Bonesaw's power told me she could have done it easily, within an hour, but trying to do it with uncooperative fingers and a dying body was a lot of strain.

If Amy wasn't here, it would have been impossible. As it was, we worked in tandem. I reanimated an organ, she labored to make sure it would _stay_ alive until we managed to stabilize it and put it back where it belonged, then we'd work together to reconnect the nerve tissue to his spinal cord. Reattaching his head was relatively simple, but _keeping_ him alive while we stabilized everything was so very difficult. I could see her straining to do it.

Before I gave her my blood and made her a vampire, she could have done this work easily. As it is, however, we had to do things so ludicrously carefully and slowly it was agonizing. Thankfully not for Mark himself. I still had his brain shut down.

Fucking Bonesaw. She cut off his head and had him feel _every moment_ of it when she could have disabled all that pain with a twitch.

Strangely, I could feel her elation whenever I looked at Amy. She'd figured out Panacea was alive, apparently. Well, I guess it didn't matter. She wasn't going to be able to tell anyone.

I rubbed the numb fingers, grimacing, then took a deep breath as the numbness began to fade. It felt weird, being in a living body again, for however short a time this might be. Still, it didn't exactly feel comfortable like this. It wasn't my skin, my powers, or my muscles. They were Bonesaw's, and I was stealing them until my blood killed her.

Okay. Connect nerve bundle here to fix spinal column there, use macrophages to prevent infection and act as a scaffolding until repairs take place. Then use the needle to twinge the nerve and stop the signals that keep the heart going, and...

That _bitch._

I felt smugness in the back of my head. Bonesaw was trying to sabotage my attempts to help Mark. My fingers stilled as I drew upon the icy rage of the Void.

Amy saw me pause, her eyes filled with worry. "What's wrong?"

I growled. "Bonesaw's managed to figure something out. She's getting her power to feed me bad information. I nearly just sabotaged his heart."

That smug feeling remained. A sinking feeling filled me as I looked over the sheer _mess_ that was his organs. Everything seemed to be going okay, but...

My eyes widened as I reached into Mark's still chest. I pulled out a little bundle of flesh. Instinctively, I knew what I was looking at. A tiny bit of infected tissue that would have waited for weeks, then release a pathogen to kill Mark and anyone else he had contact with while it was incubating. I set it aside, but...yeah, the little bitch was now throwing a temper tantrum in the back of my head, based on what I was feeling.

"Fuck." I growled. I looked at Amy, grimacing. "Can you still see what you're doing? She might have left a few more surprises."

Amy nodded slowly. "I can, but my awareness isn't total or perfect anymore." She held out her hand, and I gave her the piece of infected flesh. She frowned as she looked it over, running her fingers over it. "Jesus. This thing's loaded with prions. Dad would have served as an infection vector for months or years down the road. Everyone he'd touch would be infected."

I blinked. "Lovely. Will the vaccine work to neutralize it?"

She nodded. "It should. I need to... _really_ focus hard to make sure of it."

Fucking Tinkers. I hated them. Well, the asshole ones. "Are you sure you can do it?"

Amy bit her lip. "This stuff is nowhere near as easy as it used to be for me."

I reached over and gently squeezed her shoulder. "I know. But I believe in you, Amy." My lip twitched. "I know it's a lot of pressure, but I'm losing my grip on Bonesaw, here. We need to finish, and now I can't trust her power. But I trust _you._ "

Amy's face filled with determination. She stared intently at the piece of flesh in her palm. "I got this. Just need to tweak the genes right..."

I looked down at Mark. His head was reattached, his organs ready. I activated the bits of tinkertech to keep functioning until he was stable, then they'd break themselves down to the molecular scale and be...passed, by various means.

Yeah. Let's not dwell on that.

Amy dunked the bit of flesh into the anti-prion froth. She spoke at my curious look. "Spreading _that_ as a cure, too. Now all we need to do is get this released into the air." She looked at the still forms of her parents, her hands covered in their blood. "I wasn't very happy here, but they deserve better than this, Taylor. We'll get the rest of the Nine, right?"

I nodded. "Right. Let's get your dad sewn up. The amulet should help."

Bonesaw's anger in the back of my head was only encouraging, now. I'd wrecked her work, dashed her hopes, and taken her life. Though she didn't know that last one just yet. Beyond simply puppeting her, anyway.

I _hated_ this power.

Half an hour later, we were finished. Good thing, too, because Bonesaw's body was shaking like a leaf. Pain wracked through me as I struggled to hold onto her for just a little while longer. If I left her, she would die immediately. I could feel her panicking in the back of my head, her emotions brushing against my own. They weren't anything I couldn't handle, as my own were... _very_ intense compared to hers. It was a slight annoyance.

Luckily for the upcoming death of Bonesaw, I had a place to put her, and her spider-bots. I just had to open the Shadow Portal.

Shadow Portal? Hello, Shadow Portal?

No Shadow Portal. Shit. I couldn't open a portal when I was possessing someone or something else. I might have known that earlier if I ever used this on anyone else, but...well, it's the most horrifying of my powers, and I wasn't going to experiment with something that would _make people explode into chunky salsa._

I cleared my throat. "Amy, I need to get Bonesaw somewhere airtight. _Now._ "

Her eyes widened. "Disease failsafes?"

I nodded, grimacing. What the fuck can I do? Where can I go? My whole plan was to dump her in the box I made in the Shadow Plane. Where...ah crap, where I'd put two innocent people that I'd completely forgotten about.

Fucking _Nine._

Yeah, yeah, _They are beneath me._

Amy's looked considerate, then nodded slowly. "Basement. Best chance."

Oh. Good. Where all the rest of Bonesaw's spider-bots are. Since I'd ordered them to gather together from all over the block.

I got up. Stumbled. I could feel Bonesaw's heart beating, more and more quickly as my blood inevitably did its damage in her veins. I'd gotten so caught up in the surgical work that I'd nearly forgot about what was about to happen to my unwilling host.

Amy gripped my hand, and she led me downstairs quickly. We made our way down the stairs, and I leaned against her as she led me to a rec room, stepping between the massed spider-bots as we went. Finally, carefully, she set me down onto a leather chair. Her mouth turned to a frown as she looked at me. "We need to make sure she doesn't get to release anything. This room's got poor ventilation, but any leakage..."

I nodded with a grimace. Only Bonesaw's upgrades got her this far. Any ordinary human would have been dead well over two hours ago. "Containment as much as possible..." I looked at Amy as an idea struck me. "Can you make a shell around me? Out of her flesh? It'd only have to hold for a minute or so."

And oh. Bonesaw _really_ didn't like that idea.

Amy considered, then nodded. "This is probably going to hurt. A lot." She smiled wryly. "Considering it's Bonesaw, though... well, first, I'm going to seal you up. Then I'm going to try and neutralize whatever plagues she has inside her, so hold onto her as long as you can."

I nodded. "Do it."

Amy put her hands on my head. Bonesaw _shrieked_ in the back of my head as pain flowed over me. I was aware of my skin turning hard, chitinous, and unmovable. The growths covered my face and eyes, cutting me off from the world.

Eventually, the pain faded, and it was just me and the panicked feelings from the back of my head.

I concentrated as best I could, sending her my feelings of regret.

 _I'm sorry for this. This is a horrible way to go. If I could, I'd make this clean._

Bonesaw's confusion and fear intensified. Still, I couldn't spare her. Literally could not, even if I wanted to. Leaving her body at this point would kill her outright. She was doomed the moment my blood took over her body. Now it would simply be _worse_ than if I'd killed her right away. I waited, feeling tingles as Amy's power worked through the chitinous shell, altering Bonesaw's flesh. I only had minutes now, and it was a strain to keep it going. I gave a small pulse of blood toward my face, hoping Amy would understand.

The tingles stopped. Hopefully, that was enough. I couldn't wait any longer. So I finished the job.

My blood quickened, and began tearing apart the tissue that surrounded it. Bonesaw let out a scream in the back of my head, then her emotions quieted as her brain liquified. Held in by the chitin, her liquified flesh had nowhere to go as my blood consumed her utterly, even her bones melting in my absurdly potent blood. The instant I could, I opened a portal right underneath me, and felt the rather sickening feeling of being dropped into an infinite abyss.

Then I let myself resolidify, and the chitin shell around me burst apart. What remained of Bonesaw turned into fine mist, dissipating into the Shadow Plane.

I decided to take no chances. I concentrated, straining my powers to the limit as I called upon my hatred, the fires of Hell responding. My body caught alight in unholy flame, and I forced it outward, burning and destroying whatever remained of the girl I had possessed. Before long, whatever was left of the youngest member of the Nine no longer existed.

I arrested my fall into the void, and flew back upwards. I knew where the portal was, instinctively, and passed right back through it.

Amy flinched back as I emerged from the darkness of the portal, and I sighed as I looked back at her. I gave her a small wave. "Mess taken care of. Sensing anything bad, here?"

She shook her head. "No. Just the ordinary bacteria and such. Nothing of the plagues she had inside her." Her gaze was distant before she sighed. "That was...really ugly. I never wanted to use my powers like that."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I never wanted to use that power on anyone, either. But..." I grimaced. "Not much choice."

Then the rec room door started scratching. The spider-bots started filing in, lunging at us.

Right, forgot about those.

I extended my hand, calling upon the power of the storm. Lightning coursed from my fingers, running from bot to bot to bot, frying the brains that Bonesaw used to keep them active and functioning. I let it flow between all of them, the room smelling strongly of ozone and burning metal, all of the bots writhing and jerking as I put enough power through them all to light up a city.

It took just a few minutes before they were all still. Almost contemptuously, Amy and I threw the remains of the bots into the still-open portal.

I clenched my fingers when were done, and looked to Amy. "We good here?"

She nodded. "Think so. I'll keep an eye on things."

I wasn't done my job yet tonight.

* * *

I floated over the city. It was nearly completely covered in the prion cloud, and the cloud showed no sign of stopping its spread. Hopefully the vaccine Amy and I cooked up would be able to fix this.

I pressed my fingers to my earpiece. "This is Scarlet. Bonesaw's dead, and her remains are destroyed. No plagues released into the air."

Piggot's voice echoed over the line. She sounded exhausted. _"Good. Vaccine status?"_

I looked down at the bowl in my hand. A mere half of the vaccine I made using Bonesaw's expertise. "It's ready to go. I can distribute it now, it should neutralize the prion cloud. It won't fix the infected, but it'll stop new infections and _should_ halt any more damage from taking hold."

There was a long moment of silence on the line, then she spoke again. _"If you're wrong..."_

I sighed to myself. "Yeah, a lot of people are dead. But leaving things as they are, they're dead anyway, and this cloud's just going to keep spreading."

Another moment, then her voice was resigned. _"Go ahead."_

I began to fly over the cloud, overturning the bowl as I went. The froth immediately began to seed inside the red cloud, growing outward and expanding slowly. Well, actually rather quickly, but slowly compared to the size the cloud already had managed to take.

Still, the patches of light blue grew, giving me a bit of grim satisfaction. I cleared my throat and spoke. "Any status on the Nine?"

Madison's voice cut in. _"This is Paladin. Apparently, Siberian is dead. Some cape calling himself 'Apostle' showed up and apparently teleported her Master somewhere unpleasant."_ A momentary pause. _"Aegis and Glory Girl need medical attention."_

Vicky's voice, then. _"I'm half-blind and pissed off, but I'm alright. Aegis needs it more. Let's fucking finish these bastards off."_

I took a deep breath. "Three to go."

I was just about to open another portal to hunt Burnscar, when Armsmaster's voice burst over the line. _"I need assistance now! Medical teams! Hatchet Face was here... He's gone now, but I need medical teams right now!"_ He sounded drained, leaden, and yet filled with nearly panicked worry.

Hatchet Face? He was hitting the Endbringer shelter? But how did he get in?...

A chill went through me. _Of course he was unrecognizable._ With Bonesaw, changing a _face_ was downright _easy._ All he had to do was keep calm and blend in with the rest of the civilians.

 _Fucking Nine!_

I opened a portal to get there all the quicker. I hoped I wasn't too late.


	66. Interlude: Gallant, Alucard

A/N: Oh my god, Dean's relevant! What's happening!? I'm so confused!

* * *

It was difficult to keep still. The stump of his left arm itched and stung. He wanted to scratch at it, but that would simply make things worse.

"I don't suppose you've got something that'll help with itching?" Gallant asked Kid Win dryly.

A small chuckle was the reply. "Sorry. Not that kind of Tinker." Kid Win looked down at Vista, his aura filled with the blue and white swirls of worry and exhaustion. "She's doing okay, from what I know. Paladin's amulets are a real help, there, but..."

Gallant nodded. "They take time to work."

A sigh came from under Kid Win's helmet. "Yeah. Really miss Panacea, for things like this."

Gallant swallowed. That suspicion in the back of his head was an ugly one. But regardless, it could wait. He'd have to do what he could to find out what was going on _after_ the band of psychos were dealt with. He spoke softly. "Stay with her. I need to sit down for a bit."

Kid Win nodded. "Got you. Scout's honor."

Gallant chuckled lowly. "Ward's honor. You're no scout."

A chuckle and a shake of the head was Kid Win's response.

Gallant stepped away, moving to a corner of the room, mindful of the civilians inside. The room seemed to be filled with an entire miasma of emotions, difficult for him to handle. One of the downsides of his power was that he was always aware of what other people were feeling. And right now, the room was filled with tinges of light and dark yellow, the colors of fear and despair. But, thankfully, there were other emotions he could see, too. Aside from Alucard, who was nearly invisible to his sight, and Meridia, who had faded entirely, some of the ten or so civilians in the room were feeling hopeful. He wasn't sure how the other thirty might be feeling, as they were taking up other rooms in the shelter.

Armsmaster walked up to the door from the hall, his halberd resting on his shoulder. His mechanical legs whirred a little as he shifted on his feet. He'd been checking on each of the rooms one after another, seemingly tireless. He looked at Gallant, and Gallant waved back. _All good, here._ With a nod, Armsmaster went back into the hall, his feet clanking as he moved.

Gallant took a moment to look over at the still form of Vista. While unconscious, her emotions were dulled, but there were still the swirls and eddies. She had a faint tinge of the yellows of fear, but it seemed she was asleep. Kid Win gently tended to her, the young teen in power armor carefully cleaning the edges of the wound that had nearly claimed Vista's life, the spear of glass still jutting out of the young girl's chest.

He was _well_ aware of how Vista felt for him. It was a crush, deep and powerful, as crushes usually were. It was always something he felt a bit uncomfortable about. Despite everything Missy Biron felt, she was a lot younger than he was, and he didn't quite like being aware of her feelings like that.

Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.

Clockblocker came over and sat down next to Gallant, holding a bottle of water, which he handed it to Gallant almost casually. _His_ aura was filled with a bit of red, anger, but more of it was a clear blue of satisfaction. "These guys are supposed to be the worst of the worst, least here in the good old U S of A. And they're dropping like flies."

Gallant gave a nod of thanks, lifting the edge of his helmet so he could drink. Things were awkward with only one hand, but he could make do. After a few blissful swallows of the water, Gallant spoke in return. "Well, they went after someone who chewed on an Endbringer's head. I'm not that surprised."

Clockblocker spoke softly. "Heh. I missed that, you know. Busy helping in the triage center. Still, this whole thing is nasty, man. I'm looking forward to taking a little vacation after this." He looked over where the pale man, Alucard, was tending to the white-haired woman. "I hope she'll be okay. Her daughter's got to be taking this hard."

"Yeah." Gallant's voice was a bit distant. "Did Amara seem familiar to you at all?"

Clockblocker tilted his head, looking at him. No doubt looking quite confused under that mask, at least from the swirls and eddies in his emotional light. "No, not really. I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered if I met her before. Why?"

Gallant shook his head. "Just a thought. Something for after this mess is over with."

Clockblocker shook his head, his voice filled with mirth. "That shouldn't take too long. After this, though, I'm taking a vacation. Somewhere nice and quiet. Like some small town in Iowa."

Gallant couldn't help but smile a bit under his helmet. "Going to play hero among the cornfields, huh?"

Clockblocker's voice took on a deeper tone, no doubt Dennis' attempt to sound like a movie trailer voiceover. "In a small town, threatened by boredom, where the only intersection takes five minutes to change the lights from red to green...comes a hero, who _just wanted a vacation._ But his vacation was foiled by... the lack of good waffles!"

Gallant shook his head, his shoulders shaking with the effort to keep in his tired laughter. It wasn't a good joke, but it was enough to shove the whole situation aside, at least for a little while. Besides, Gallant was pretty sure that just about anything would be pretty funny to him right now.

Then a horrible wail of pain filled the shelter. Gallant's aura sight winked out. He looked over to find Alucard holding a thrashing Meridia down in the corner, the wounded woman's back arched. Despite her thrashing, however, Alucard easily held her down. Gallant could only watch with shock as Meridia's arms began to regrow from the stumps of her shoulders. It was slow, compared to Scarlet's rapid regeneration, but still faster than just about anything he'd seen before. The only exception was watching Amy work.

Meridia tried to bite Alucard, but the pale man simply held her down, a clawed hand pressing hard on her chest. The Wards shifted away from the pair, not wanting to be anywhere near the thrashing wounded woman.

Then Gallant's aura sight returned, the familiar whirls and eddies of people's emotions washing over his vision once more. The girl with the red streak in her hair paled, her fingers tightening on the arm of the older man next to her. She was filled with fear, while he was filled with...the hard silver of determination.

Clockblocker had straightened. "Geez, that felt weird. Felt like my brain froze for a second there."

Gallant nodded slowly, calling out to Alucard. "Everything good?"

Alucard's voice was calm, despite the thrashing woman beneath him. "Give her time. She is weak, healing takes a lot of out someone. Especially regrowing limbs." He looked down at Meridia sternly, saying something in a harsh tone, a language that was _just_ slightly out of Gallant's understanding.

Meridia stopped moving, breathing heavily as she looked back up at Alucard. She spoke in the same language, her voice filled with wanton _need._ She averted her eyes as Alucard simply stared, then cleared her throat. "I am...well." She shuddered as she breathed deeply, the skeletal growths sprouting from her shoulders twitching.

Damn, that was creepy as hell to watch. Clockblocker gave a rather obvious shudder. Gallant couldn't help but share it.

Gallant nodded, then he pressed a button on his helmet. "Armsmaster, it's Gallant, can you come back here please? We've got a problem."

It took less than a minute, but Armsmaster strode back to the doorframe. Gallant handed the bottle of water back to Clockblocker. "Give me a minute. I need to talk with Armsmaster."

Clockblocker nodded, carefully helping Gallant to his feet, and walked with him over to Armsmaster. Gallant spoke in hushed tones. "Did you feel something odd about a minute ago? My powers failed for a few seconds. Clockblocker felt something odd, too."

Armsmaster frowned, then nodded slightly. "Always have a lot of ideas whirling around in my head. Then nothing for an instant." His voice was filled with consideration. "Hatchet Face could do that, in theory. If he's able to suppress his power...and I wouldn't be surprised if Bonesaw could figure out a way to do that even if he didn't have conscious control." He stopped for a moment, thinking, then scowled. "He's got to be inside. If he just walked by outside, his range wouldn't have been enough to block us all out. Unless she changed _that_ , too."

Clockblocker's head shook back and forth, his aura filling in with the pale-yellow of fear. "Whoa, whoa. He's in _here?_ "

Armsmaster nodded resolutely. "Yes, he is. At least, it's likely. We need to identify him. Flush him out." He tilted his head slightly, a small smirk on his lips. "I've an idea about that." He looked to Gallant, paused for a moment, then nodded to himself. "How's your emotional control power?"

Gallant concentrated, and felt his hand tingle. He nodded. "Working alright."

Armsmaster nodded with satisfaction. "Good. We might need it. Yours is the most straightforward here, if Hatchet blocks us all out, you'll likely know first and most obviously." He looked to Clockblocker. "Your wound alright?"

Clockblocker hesitated, but nodded. "Yeah. Side stings a fair bit now, but it's not hurting so much."

A resolute nod from Armsmaster. "Excellent. Your amulet will be key, here. Here's what we're going to do."

* * *

Armsmaster walked back into the room. He looked at each of the huddled civilians in turn. "Listen carefully. We have reason to suspect this plague of Bonesaw's may have secondary effects. I know some of you are infected. But we do have a cure. We're going to go through each of you one at a time. We'll cure you, ask you a few questions to make sure you know and can recognize each other, then put you in the room down the hall."

Tension in the room relaxed somewhat as Armsmaster spoke. The yellows of fear in Gallant's sight intensified for a few, especially for the girl with the red streak in her hair. But five people weren't afraid. Three teenagers, who smelled faintly of cigarettes, a pimple-faced, out of shape high-schooler, and one tall man, his arms corded with muscle. Gallant mentally compared him to the picture of Hatchet Face...and even this guy was too short, too thin, despite being six foot six.

Still, considering Bonesaw, the insane bio-Tinker could probably have Hatchet Face hide as a little girl.

Armsmaster scanned the crowd, then pointed at this first, an old man, his hair thin and gray. "You first, sir. Please, out in the hall, here."

Each person didn't take long. Clockblocker's amulet went around their neck, Armsmaster asked what their names were, who their mother was, and what Jack Slash meant to them.

Third one in was the girl with the red streak in her hair. Nervousness and fear washed from her in waves. Clockblocker set the amulet around her neck, his voice filled with amusement. "Hey, relax, it's one hundred-percent Clockblocker certified! It'll cure what ails ya, or your money back."

She looked confused. "You always like this?"

Clockblocker nodded vigorously. "Yep. It's in my contract. Well, not really, but it should have been!"

Armsmaster's voice cut in, harsh and filled with impatience. "Clockblocker."

The teen straightened up. "Right, right. We gotta make sure this is working. First, what's your name?"

Yellow and green swirled in her aura, their strength almost palpable. And yet, she showed no sign of it on her face. She'd be one hell of a poker player. "Cherry."

Armsmaster's lips turned to a frown. "Your full name, if you please."

She swallowed a little. "Cherry Anne." Her aura was hardening, the yellows of her fear turning brighter. Still no sign of her fear on her face.

Armsmaster was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was hard. "It's in your best interests to tell the truth about your identity. This is the Slaughterhouse Nine, they can be pretty damn difficult to deal with."

The yellows of her fear suddenly shifted even more brightly, hardening to almost golden in Gallant's sight. Armsmaster's and Clockblocker's auras shifted to _black_ , and they screamed. Despair washed over Gallant. A sudden, powerful certainty. _Victoria is dead. My parents are dead. Life is pointless. It's_ _ **all**_ _pointless!_

Screams echoed from the room they just left, the civilians crying out in fear and horror. Some of them ran out of the room behind them, scrambling deeper into the shelter, while others wailed and cried in terror and despair.

Clockblocker hit the ground, letting out a cry of pain and despair, clawing at the floor. Armsmaster froze up, his hands tightening around the handles of his halberd, stumbling backward and hitting his back up against a concrete wall. Gallant clenched his hand as he struggled to keep the thought of slitting his own throat at bay.

 _Not your feelings. She's manipulating them, you can_ _ **see**_ _this! Act!_ The girl took off running down the hall, toward the entrance of the shelter. Gallant swallowed his despair, struggling under the weight of the powerful emotions that weren't his own. He fought to lift his hand, calling on the very emotion she was forcing him to feel and fired it at her. It struck the fleeing girl in the back, and she fell to the ground, screaming and writhing, trying to claw her eyes out.

Then Gallant's aura sight winked out again, his power abandoning him. Still, the feelings of despair and horror remained, and Gallant nearly fell over from the strength of it. Gallant just barely managed to call out. "Boss, she's a Master, she's doing this!"

Armsmaster pushed himself off the wall, letting out a groan of pain. His body jerked as something in his armor whined, then he stood straight. He lifted the halberd, the axe-head crackling with electricity as he advanced on the writhing girl and touched her with it, the Tinker-made electronics knocking her out almost instantly.

The feeling of despair stopped as abruptly as it began, leaving Gallant gasping and shuddering. Armsmaster took restraints from his belt, tied the girl up, and then injected her with tranquillizers.

Gallant took deep breaths, his hand trembling. He stumbled as his aura sight abruptly reasserted itself, cries of fear and terror coming from the room with the civilians.

Armsmaster strode to the door, halberd at the ready. Gallant followed, only to stop at the sight before them.

Alucard stood there, his curved blade dripping blood. On the ground lay the man the girl had been tending to, Meridia gnawing on the bloody remnants of his neck like a feral animal. Everyone in the room was sobbing, crying, self-inflicted wounds running deep. And Kid Win, lying on his back, a pool of blood spreading on the cold concrete floor.

Armsmaster charged forward with a roar.

* * *

 _One minute earlier_

Alucard stood over Meridia. The newborn demonic vampire rocked back and forth, whimpering lowly. She spoke with clear need, her language that of the denizens of the Shadow Plane. "It feels as if my stomach is trying to consume itself."

"Tis the hunger." He spoke gently. "Your body is attempting to heal the damage done by the murderer. Can you withstand it a little longer?"

Meridia bit her lip, a small groan escaping her lips. "I thought I could, but..." Her gaze drifted over the people in the shelter, lingering on the wounded. Especially upon the still form of Vista, the spear of glass in her chest most definitely alluring to a vampire in the midst of the blood-hunger. Alucard was _well_ acquainted with the hunger in her eyes. Leave it too long, and a feral state would likely ensue. There wasn't any help for it. He would simply have to feed her from his own wrist.

Alucard cast an eye around the room, seeing Kid Win looking back at the pair of vampires. Momentarily turning away from the care of Vista. Alucard nodded slowly, then called on his resolve. Poor girl. Alucard never enjoyed seeing a child injured. Alas, the world was cruel.

Gently, he helped Meridia to her feet, careful not to touch her slowly regrowing arms. They were at the point of her upper biceps, the flesh and bone slowly regrowing themselves in a horribly fascinating way. Still, the moment he could get Meridia into a private room, he would feed her some of his own blood. Hopefully, that would be enough to slake her thirst, at least for the moment.

Then everyone in the room began screaming. Even Vista, unconscious as she was, began to writhe. Except one man. He got to his feet, reaching underneath the oddly-striped shirt, and with a sick, wet, tearing sound, he pulled out a handle, about as long as his forearm, covered in blood. With a click, the end of it suddenly had a small axe-head on the end.

One of _them._ Hiding this whole time.

Even as Alucard let go of Meridia, the Crissaegrim flashing into existence in his hand, Hatchet Face turned, hacking open the throat of a civilian, a young girl, then took a step toward Kid Win and Vista. Alucard rushed toward the pair, his progress made difficult with all the people in the room, arms and legs everywhere to step over. Hysterical screams filled his ears. The crackling zap of Kid Win's light-weapon went off, filling the room with the scent of burning flesh. Some of the civilians managed to scramble out of the room, but in the process, they got between Alucard and his target. Still, Alucard was fast, faster than mortals could be.

Still too slow. The serial killer brought the hatchet down, right at the prone Vista. Kid Win crouched protectively over her, and took the blow. His power armor _should_ have protected him. But Hatchet Face was strong, strong enough to drive the head right through the armor and dig the head of the weapon deep into the teen's back. Another scream filled the room, cut by a wet gurgle. Hatchet Face ripped it out, turning as Alucard got to him, catching the first slash of the Crissaegrim with an outstretched hand and gripping the blade.

Blood flowed from where the blade landed on his palm, and yet Hatchet Face didn't seem to care. He smiled at Alucard. "You feel that? That's my power neutralizing yours. Against me, creature, you're just an ordinary person for me to kill."

Grimly, Alucard smiled. "I feel nothing." He filled his left hand with hellfire. Hatchet Face's features were almost comical as he saw the impossible sight. That was the _last_ thing he ever saw as Alucard drove the hand full of fire into the serial killer's face. He screamed in shock and surprise, and Alucard took the opportunity to cut him across the chest with the Crissaegrim. The blade had trouble cutting through his dense flesh, but it was enough to make him stagger. Alucard then stepped aside, grabbing the serial killer's arm and throwing him to the floor.

Right in front of Meridia.

The succubus-turned vampire looked down on him hungrily. Somewhat awkwardly, lacking her forearms, she climbed on his back and tore the side of his throat with her teeth. Hatchet Face screamed and thrashed, trying to dislodge her from his back, only to fail as the newly-raised vampire fed.

The civilians in the room screamed and cried out hysterically, faces and eyes filled with fear as they looked upon the feeding demon. Meridia's healing sped up as she took in Hatchet Face's blood, her newly-grown fingers digging into her victim's flesh as she drank. Eventually, the killer stilled, but Meridia continued to drink, a lusty, heated moan coming from deep in her throat.

The door opened, and Armsmaster strode in, halberd at the ready. He took one look at the situation and lifted his halberd, moving to cut down Alucard with the axe-head of his weapon.

Alucard deflected the attack, snarling as he pushed Armsmaster back. "Calm yourself! He was the murderer, Hatchet Face! Get the amulet. Kid Win is dying, and we have no time for this!" He looked down at the corpse of the serial killer, a grimace on his face. Then spared a glance at the glassy eyes of Hatchet Face's other victim. Another child, already dead.

Armsmaster struggled visibly for a moment, then he dropped the halberd, moving quickly to Kid Win's side. The teen lay on his back, struggling to breathe, his blood pooled beneath his body. A racking cough managed to escape his lips. "Hey boss."

Clockblocker rushed into the room, the Light Magic amulet dangling from his fingers. Armsmaster took it and placed it around Kid Win's neck. It began to glow brightly, burning through its charge, sensing its wearer was close to death.

Then it flickered out. Out of magical energy, too much already used up.

"Clock!" Armsmaster called urgently.

Without hesitation, Clockblocker rushed forward, clapping Kid Win's shoulder. The wounded teenager froze.

Clockblocker spoke with annoyance. "These fucking assholes."

Alucard nodded in agreement. He didn't quite understand the meaning of the phrase, but the sentiment was clear enough.

Armsmaster pressed a finger to the side of his helmet. "I need assistance now! Medical teams! Hatchet Face was here... He's gone now, but I need medical teams right now!"


	67. Family 6-11

Okay, fair warning here, guys. This is likely going to be the most shocking and nasty chapter yet. Seriously. A very nasty thing happens here. It's so very totally Jack, though, and it fits, so...yeah.

* * *

I emerged from the Shadow Portal to find a room filled with terror. People were wailing and crying, a number of wounds easily visible. The scent of blood was strong, and it would have immediately made me hungry had the Void Sword not already slaked my thirst on the Siberian's energy.

Okay, it still made me hungry, but nothing I couldn't stand.

Armsmaster knelt over Kid Win, along with Clockblocker. A rather large pool of blood was on the concrete floor beneath the frozen teenager. Gallant stood up against a wall, his body language filled with exhaustion. On the floor lay a body, a tall man wearing a flannel shirt, his throat torn out. Meridia stood over the corpse, licking her lips, a blissful, even orgasmic expression on her face. Alucard was at her side, clawed hand resting on her shoulder.

"My lady." She said with satisfaction, her eyes somewhat glazed over. "I am well. _Very_ well."

Oh hell, she was actually purring a bit. I sighed to myself, and looked to Alucard.

He shook his head. "The murderer, Hatchet Face. Hidden as a lion amongst the sheep. He concealed his weapon by having it buried inside his body as a false rib." He smiled faintly, a bit of his fangs showing.

Armsmaster looked at me, his voice harsh. "Can you get medics here now!? We have wounded, beyond Kid Win. That Master got a lot of people to hurt themselves. Another minute and we'd have fatalities in here."

That shook me out of my distraction. I wanted to ask questions, but they could wait. People needed help now, and I could get the complete picture later. I hit my earpiece. "Director Piggot, where are the medical teams?"

" _The PRT building. We're rounding up every doctor we have."_

Abruptly, Kid Win unfroze, thrashing on the floor with a scream. Clockblocker immediately froze him again, but the echo of his pain remained in my ears.

I really, really hated these bastards. I spoke with a grimace. "Don't bother with a transport. I'll set up a few portals to get them through to here. I can leave them open long enough to get them through." My voice dropped all warmth, as cold as the Void Sword itself. "Then I'm ending this."

* * *

About ten minutes later, the shelter was bustling. I'd made a small detour to pick up Amy, get her parents secured at the PRT, and get Aegis, Vicky and Mad... _Paladin_ together. Amy sat next to Clockblocker and Paladin, the room otherwise cleared. Hatchet Face's corpse had been dragged out to be properly disposed of. Aegis lay on a cot as a doctor sewed his leg back on.

Vicky sat against the wall, covering her face with her hand. I went over to her and sat down, my tone faint. "How bad is it, Vicky?"

She snorted. "Pretty damn bad, Red. Fucking Siberian just ripped it out."

Gently, I took her hand and squeezed it. She smiled faintly at me. "It's fine, Red. I ain't happy about it, but it doesn't hurt anymore at least." Her lip quirked. "And I can get myself an eyepatch and become the awesomest pirate around."

I chuckled a little. "I'll see if I got any ships you can use. I probably do. I've got everything else."

She nodded slowly, chewing on her lip. Finally, she let her hand drop, letting me see the damage. Though it _looked_ like a years-old wound, it was pretty ugly. The eye socket itself was sealed over, and the scarring was extensive. I could see small lumps of misshapen bone around it, where the Siberian's invincible fingers had reached in and tore.

I spoke softly. "I'll understand if you want to take a break. They're down to two."

Vicky shook her head. "Nah. I'll rest when all of em are in the ground." She grinned, her remaining eye filled with malicious anticipation. "They fucked with my family, Red. I ain't letting you hog all the credit."

I nodded. "All right. I'm heading out in a few. We're ending this before sunrise." I got to my feet, a small smile on my lips.

She returned my smile. "We'll knock em dead."

I made my way around the room, over to where Paladin took up a corner. She sat with six of her amulets spread out in front of her. She grasped them one at a time, murmuring under her breath, and each one began to shine after about a minute. She looked up at me, weariness in her voice. "Six dead here. Seventeen wounded. My amulets are helping, but..." She lay the amulets around in a circle, scraping lines in the concrete between them.

I nodded with a grimace, but I couldn't help but ask. "What are you trying to do?"

She looked up at me. "Trying to call Dragon. I think she might be able to do more than I can. Kid Win's barely alive, and my amulets won't be able to heal him fast enough to get him stable before he dies. She _might_ be able to pour enough into him to make sure he makes it. If Amara can't manage to close the wound and buy us enough time, anyway. Clockblocker's keeping things stable, for the moment."

I nodded, looking over to where Amy and Clockblocker sat with the prone Kid Win. "I hope all this works."

At her nod, I stepped down the hall to a storeroom. Armsmaster and Gallant stood over the bound-up Cherry, the local Protectorate leader with his halberd at the ready. He gave me an acknowledging nod.

"The hell happened?" I asked.

Gallant spoke, his voice rough and tired. "She's a Master, a strong one. We were in the middle of curing those infected here by the prion plague, asking a few questions while we did. We suspected Hatchet Face was in here when our powers went out for a second and we were trying to flush him out. Turned out _she_ had powers, too. She hit everyone here with suicidal feelings while she tried to make a break for it."

I looked down at the unconscious Cherry. Anger broiled at the back of my head. Another person with a sweet face and charming words. If it turned out she betrayed me...

An image came from the back of my mind. An entire army's worth of corpses, impaled upon iron spikes. An example of terror and fear, to give those who would dare face the Dragon a chance to turn away and flee, to warn those who followed the Phoenix of his wrath.

And here I was approving. Maybe on a smaller scale, but approving nonetheless.

I looked to Armsmaster. "I'm taking Meridia and Alucard out of here. With what happened, you don't need more complications with hysterical people. Then I'm going to hit Burnscar."

He nodded slowly. "I don't like it, but I've got responsibilities here. The last two have to be feeling the pressure."

I took a deep breath. "Anything you know that might help?"

Armsmaster paused for a moment. "Burnscar's very mobile, and the longer a fight goes on, the more flame she'll have to work with. Denying her flammable material will help slow things down, but the most essential bit would be speed. Making sure she doesn't even get started, if possible."

I mulled that over. "And Jack?"

Armsmaster's lips tightened. "He's smart, or at least has a reputation as a smart one. He'll probably have something prepared. He pulled a _lot_ of tricks with Screamer, years ago. Psychological tactics, ambush tactics. He usually knows when to run. Under ordinary circumstances, he'd have probably already left the city."

My voice was hard. "He can't run from _me._ "

* * *

Alucard, Meridia, Vicky and I emerged from the Shadow Portal in the middle of downtown. The mist was still strong here, and with the darkness of night, it was difficult to see much of anything.

I floated upward, looking around. "Great. She can be anywhere. Alucard, any ideas?"

He frowned as he paused for a moment, his blade in hand. "This mist is making things difficult. But I do smell something." He turned and pointed. "That way. Smoke."

Now that he'd mentioned it, I could smell it too. I floated that way, the Void Sword springing into existence in my hand. Vicky flew by my side, her face hard. Meridia and Alucard ran on the ground, though my newest childe assisted her run with leaps and flaps of her wings.

When we reached the end of the block, my heart would have stopped, if it had been beating. Right in a parking lot in front of an office building was a city bus. Fifty people were surrounding it, sitting on the ground, whimpering and crying in fear. A ring of fire surrounded it, cutting off all avenues of escape. A redheaded woman was striding around the interior of the ring, flame sprouting from her hand, and she was cackling. A few burned bodies littered the ground, the sickly sweet scent of burned flesh strong.

Most concerning to me was a handsome blond man, standing on top of the bus, infant cradled with one hand and a knife in the other. Jack Slash, most likely. He didn't look at all like the photo, more like an up and coming movie star, but with Bonesaw's work, that wasn't exactly hard to do.

Assuming Jack wasn't pulling something even _more_ elaborate, anyway. I hoped not. It's all I could do.

I reached up for my earpiece, only for the knife-wielder to call out as he saw us. "Ah ah, my dear. No calls. Or these people die."

I grimaced as I let my hand drop, striding toward the tableau with the comforting near-weightless Void Sword in my hand.

Burnscar stopped pacing around the ring, looking at me and Vicky. She smiled wickedly, flame surrounding her. It was somehow more chilling with her unmarred face, compared to her photo. "Why hello. Glad you could join us." She looked Alucard up and down. "Mm. Nice boytoy."

Jack looked at me, a broad grin on his face. "I'll take your word for it, Burnscar. Welcome, welcome. I'm glad it was you who got here first! It would have been a shame if someone else arrived to spoil things." He yelled, his voice smooth and clear. He held the knife steady against the infant's throat. He made a practiced, flourished bow, careful to keep the infant in his arms.

Vicky moved forward a bit, but Jack shook his head. "Ah ah. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, hmm? I'd rather keep my conversation with Miss Scarlet civilized." His fingers tightened on the knife in his hand.

I looked to Vicky. She looked back at me, frustration on her face. Eventually, she clenched her fists and landed outside the ring of fire. Meridia and Alucard joined her, Alucard keeping his sword at the ready.

I slowly floated forward, Void Sword in my hand, setting my feet down at the end of the bus. I spoke with an arctic chill in my voice. "You two are the last. Surrender, and you _might_ see tomorrow morning."

Burnscar's flames roared, widening the circle of fire. "Yeah, pull the other one. We got kill orders. Second we give up we get bullets in the head. I'd rather go down fighting."

Alucard's voice was nearly as cold as my own. "You would take innocents with you on the road to death?"

She shrugged without a care. "You got any idea what it's like to feel the rush of the flame? To live in the moment of power? If I'm going to die, I want it while I'm _happy._ While I feel _anything_ other than fear."

"Burnscar's got the right of it, I think." Jack smiled, flicking his head to the side. "The sword my dear. It's a lovely fashion accessory, but it's really not suitable for a civilized conversation. Lose it please."

I almost dismissed it. Instead, I threw the blade aside. It landed point-first outside the ring of flame, the blade spreading frost on the grass.

Jack smirked, his body language relaxed. "Interesting weapon. Well-crafted, dangerous. I've never seen a blade quite like that, and I've seen a lot of blades."

"I'm glad you approve." I said cooly. I really didn't care, but I just needed a chance. One instant. "Let these people go. Hand the kid over and I won't rip your limbs off and beat you to death with them."

He grinned. "Ah, I like the way you think, my dear. But I think the little tyke should stay with me. As for letting the rest go...now why should I do that, hm? After all the trouble I went through to get them here? I feel the need to have an audience for this. Every show needs an audience, after all. Without one, well, there's no real point. The greatest actors on Earth are nothing without a few fans." With a lazy smile, he nodded down at the hostages. They looked up at us, faces filled with fear.

I looked back at him, unmoved. "You think this is a show? People aren't props. I'm not here for your amusement, Jack." I spread my arms as I felt out with the power I'd gained from Shatterbird. Maybe I could do just what was needed. I didn't dare try and touch Jack while he had the infant in his grasp, but maybe something else. "I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've seen monsters you can't imagine. You don't rate. To me, you're a clown with a very, _very_ bad sense of humor." Granted, those were through Dracul's memories, but he didn't need to know that.

He seemed relaxed. Uncaring, his voice filled with amusement. "Ooh. How very scary." He smiled, turning the knife slightly over the infant's skin. The warning was clear enough.

I clenched my fingers, trying to keep my face calm as I prepared for the moment to act.

His voice was smooth, definite amusement in his tone. "Fitting, I suppose. You come here at the head of an _army._ You are a _queen._ You're not afraid of me, this poor, humble little jester." He made a mocking bow, a smirk on his lips. "Though usually, queens don't debase themselves, running around and rescuing every peasant. I honestly don't get it. Why do you bother?"

I lifted an eyebrow, pulling everything I could from the memories of Dracul as I spoke. "You ever watch a world die, Jack? To see millions of people get crushed by powers greater than they can ever fight against? To fight with everything you have, struggle against it only to fail? I help people because _I want to._ Because I don't want to see that happen again."

He sighed, clucking his tongue. Disappointment was in his tone. "That's it? I was hoping for something more. Though I do have to wonder just what it is you've seen." He shrugged slightly, rolling his eyes as the infant in his arm began crying. He made small shushing noises as his voice dipped, almost calming. "You could be a lot more than _this._ You can _do_ a hell of a lot more. You make Nilbog look like a second-rate _hack._ You could take over this whole damn planet." He let out a chuckle, his voice sardonic. "Just look what _we've_ accomplished with a mere nine psychos. The Siberian _alone_ ripped the heart out of the Protectorate. The most inspiring symbol, the man who dared to dream and spoke of making a better world than this, _crushed._ Once she joined us, we did so much more. Just imagine what _you_ could do if you cut loose. No rules. No playing nice. Being _free._ "

 _He's trying to dig into your mind. He is a simple pleasure seeker with depraved tastes. His reasoning is a veneer to let himself indulge in horrors. They mean_ _ **nothing.**_ _Words are a waste. Use them to find an opening._

I blinked. That seemed a bit more...whole, for lack of a better word, than the usual bits of commentary from the echo of Dracul. Still, it was good advice. I spoke, grasping with my telekinesis, preparing for the right moment. "You know you're not getting out of here, right? Your whole damn gang of psychos are dead. Shatterbird? I reduced her to ashes. Crawler? I'm sure Dragon took good care of him. Mannequin? Dead. Bonesaw? Nothing left of her." I let a grin rise on my lips. "I went toe to toe with your worst member and I'm still here. She's also dead, by the way. Apparently, she was taken out by some new guy."

Burnscar stopped her pacing, whirling to face me. "Bullshit. Nothing can stop the Siberian."

Jack looked only somewhat interested. "Well well. I thought I'd never see the day. The Siberian killed. Assuming you're not just making things up." He smiled slightly. "Well, if you _are_ lying, then it doesn't really matter what will happen here. She'll tear through everyone and everything in her way without us to help steer her. And if you're not...well then. I suppose we'll just have to finish up our little game. We really can't just walk away now, can we?"

 _He is a rabid dog. A pathetic creature. He needs to be put down. Wait for the moment._

I shrugged. Just move that hand a little bit, you son of a bitch. "Not really. Run, hide. Maybe if you did you'd have lived a little longer. Maybe I would have been distracted by more important matters, like my laundry or what kind of counter I'd like to install in the castle kitchens."

Jack smiled slightly. "I suggest marble. It's classy, tough, and you can afford it, I'm sure."

Jerk. I let my smile grow wide. Predatory. "I'll take it under advisement. Still, you made the mistake of getting my attention. I'm not exactly the type to let rabid dogs run around and hurt my friends." My smile dropped. "You made a _really_ big mistake when you let Bonesaw work on the Dallons."

Vicky's voice was filled with anger. "Damn right."

Jack simply shrugged. "Well, I had to give her something. She was good friends with Shatterbird, you know. Well, actually, not really. But she worked a _lot_ with Shatterbird to do her work." A lazy, confident smile crossed his face. "The funny thing is, I'm quite serious. We were all considering the merits of just leaving. Shatterbird never wanted to come around here in the first place. If you hadn't gone on the attack, we'd have left for greener pastures. So everyone who died here tonight? If you hadn't jumped in, they'd all still be alive." His smile widened. "I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised, though. I've read up on you. You tend to jump right into the middle of things. You rip apart everyone who even looks at you funny. Is it true you _bite?_ Perhaps you need a muzzle."

 _He deflects. He would have murdered more, simply out of your sight. His mad little child acted before you even sought out his compatriots._

I folded my hands, my lips tight and thin. "I'm not responsible for what you do. I've read up on you, too. How many people died at the whims of your little gang, Jack? Do you even remember them? Or does it all just blur together, because you don't give the slightest shit? Yeah, people died tonight. I don't like that. But if it wasn't here, it'd be elsewhere. Besides." I tilted my head. "I can do the math. You had Bonesaw hit the Dallons before I went on the attack. What was the plan, Jack? Send a mish-mashed combined monster after me made of the bodies of my friend's family? Oh, wait, what is it Bonesaw said? 'You were supposed to fly into a rage.'" I channeled my anger, to let my eyes glow a deep red. "Ah. Try to make me go mad, kill a whole lot of innocents, then there you'd all be waiting there, a hand outstretched in sympathy. Probably giving a sob story about how I hurt the Dallons, and thus Bonesaw just _had_ to mash them together to save their lives. How close am I?"

Jack shrugged, his hand carefully keeping the knife steady against the infant's throat. A smile was on his lips, a delighted look in his eye. "Pretty close, actually. I'm impressed. You already think like a monster, don't you? As for the Dallons..." He glanced to Vicky, a grin on his lips. "More of a favor to Bonesaw, actually. A little consolation prize for the loss of Panacea." He smiled slightly. "Shame Bonesaw died, and all that. She had such _potential._ I found her, you know. Raised her. Honed her skills. She was such an apt pupil, able to do so very much. And then you killed her. How did it feel, to murder a child?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, drawing on the icy clarity of the Void. "I made my choice. Her, or others. I'm going to pick those who _aren't_ psychotic murderers."

He chuckled. "And they call _me_ cold. At least I'm honest about things."

My lip twitched as I fought to repress a snarl. "Honest? _You?"_

Jack's smile was calm, confident. "Yes. I don't have any reason to lie here. I'm free of the constraints of lesser men. Let me tell you what's going to happen if you kill me and Burnscar. First, you're going to be lauded as a hero. Maybe they'll throw you a parade." He nodded over at the hostages. "I can see a little statue of you right there. Right where that fat guy is standing. Then after things have calmed down a bit, they're going to watch you like a hawk. They'll do everything they can to control you, to _leash_ you. They'll tie you up with diplomats, with deals and contracts and legalese. You'll be locked in little rooms with little men who'll spend _years_ arguing about, oh, I don't know, sewer systems and farmland and yadda yadda yadda. I'm trying to do you a favor. Why wouldn't you just _take_ it?"

I stood still for a moment. Then I laughed softly. "Ah. Because I have the might, what should stop me from taking things as my right, hm?" I grinned, letting my fangs show. "I've seen the results of that. A world of barbarians, scrabbling in the dirt, and never worrying about anything other than their next meal. It's a pure existence, a simple existence, and a _short and pointless_ existence. There's no future there. I am _more_ than a petty murderer or simple tyrant. _I am the Dragon._ I want more than you could _ever offer_."

He stood still for a moment, a flash of something flashing across his face, gone before I could read it. That lazy smirk was on his face again. "How did it feel when you were fighting the Siberian? I watched you when you did it. You were _filled with joy._ You had _fun_ while you went up against the most infamous member of our illustrious little band. Most people would have been shitting themselves in terror, moving to run and hide, but you took her head-on and loved it. Hell, I've seen the photos of you. You went from someone wearing freaky red armor into a _literal demon_. Your power's just showing your true nature. Why don't you embrace that?"

 _He dares compare the Lord of Darkness to his merry little band of murderers? I have seen better_ _ **bandits**_ _than he. He takes the easy path, always seeking to attack the weaker, running from_ _ **true**_ _challenges. He would never seek to slay a bound god. At best, he is a barbarian. He is beneath_ _ **us.**_

A grin slowly lifted on my face. "What makes you think I haven't embraced it, hm? You know what you're lacking? _A spine._ I bit the _Simurgh_ in the fucking face. I burned her core with the fires of my hatred. I roared my victory over her corpse. And where were you? Butchering your way through a town of defenseless people." I spread my wings, letting my voice deepen into a growl. "When was the last time _you_ faced an Endbringer? When you fought something that actually threatened you? I'm sure a whole bunch of unpowered children were so _very_ threatening to the mighty Jack Slash. What you offer is _nothing_ to me, Jack. What you do? It's _easy_. All you and your band do is _break shit._ " I heard a few whispers from Dracul. Just the right words to hopefully push him into rage. I let my grin widen. "It's easy to break things, Jack. It's easy to kill people. It's harder to lead them, and harder still to _inspire_ them. What have you got that's worth my time, Jack? You're an irritant. An annoying stone in the bottom of my boot. All you've done is run around like a _complete idiot,_ enjoying a few _giggles_ while the adults try to get something done."

He went completely, utterly still. His nostrils flared.

I spread my arms. He wanted theatrical? He hadn't seen the things _Dracul_ could pull off. "What's the matter? Not having any fun now? Thought you'd get to have a good laugh, play a little bloody joke on me, giggling behind my back as you pointed me in amusing directions like a dog on a leash? Perhaps hoping I'd do a few tricks, grinning as you got the Dragon on your side? Maybe having me all wired up as a meat puppet for Bonesaw to steer around? Only that all fell through, didn't it?" I gestured around at the hostages, at the ring of fire. "This _reeks_ of desperation, little man. A last shot at trying to make an impression on the people who actually _matter._ "

I could see his jaw tighten. I shrugged, focusing my will as the fingers around his knife tightened. "When I'm done here today, I'm going to go home, make myself a nice drink, and _forget all about you._ This isn't even a _game_ to me, Jack. You're a pest. You're a cockroach, and this time you can't scurry away into the darkness before the boot comes down. The only thing anyone's going to say about you after today is 'good riddance' and move on. Your obituary's going to say..." My grin grew vicious. "Here died Jack Slash, a _complete waste of oxygen._ He died as he lived, accomplishing _Jack Shit._ A shame your dad didn't just save us all the trouble and _cut your throat when you were born._ "

His expression filled with fury. His hand twitched, his power arcing out and slashing my throat open. There wasn't much pain, and he didn't cut deep, but it still _hurt,_ and I was keenly aware of the blood dripping from the wound.

 _Now!_

Instinctively, I grasped the hideous wound that was the remains of my throat. Still, I'd been prepared for a moment of pain, and it was already healing itself. Less instinctively, I used my telekinesis on the Void Sword. The blade wrenched itself out of the ground and struck, aiming point-first at Jack's shoulder, at the arm holding the knife.

The blade cut through his arm without resistance. He'd been entirely blindsided, and let out a scream as his arm fell to the ground. The baby in his other hand began to fall, but I'd been prepared, the moment to act all set in my mind's eye. In a flash, I'd teleported right next to Jack, catching the falling baby before it fell more than a foot, turning with the momentum to make sure it wouldn't be hurt. Another instant, and I'd teleported back to where I'd been standing, the now-wailing child in my arms as the Void Sword hovered right in front of Jack, the tip of the blade pressing against his throat.

"Fuck!" Burnscar screamed. The flames roared, beginning to close in on the people and the bus. There was a steely rasp, and the flames flowed away. There was an odd sound as flames roared and died in seconds, repeatedly. Vicky let out a cry of rage and something smashed on concrete.

I risked a glance. Alucard stood between the group of people and Burnscar's fire, his blade in hand and spinning it around, the cold radiating from it buying a few moments. Vicky dove at Burnscar, her fists raised, and the serial killer teleported out of the way, appearing again in another part of the burning ring. She threw fire at Alucard, who grunted as his hair and skin burned, but the effect was mostly mitigated by the improvised barrier of cold he managed to put up with the Crissaegrim.

Vicky homed in on Burnscar's new position, and Burnscar teleported again. Just as she reappeared, though, Meridia dove onto Burnscar from the air, pushing her from the flames and driving Burnscar's head into the pavement. I couldn't help but grin. I'd underestimated Meridia and Vicky. Vicky kept Burnscar focused on her while Meridia took her down from behind. With a roar of rage, Vicky flew forward and brought her foot right down on Burnscar's neck.

The snap was _very_ audible.

With a growl of triumph, Meridia's fingers shifted into claws. She reached down, twisted and ripped, until Burnscar's head came off her neck. The pyromanic's body twitched and shuddered beneath the demonic vampire, and after a few moments she lay still.

As the flames began to weaken, Alucard took the opportunity to sling his sword around, helping to deny them the heat they needed. The moment a path through the ring of flame opened, he spoke with authority. "Move! Get out of here!"

People began to run through the opening, whimpers and cries reaching me. Not all of them could move quickly, but they went, one after another.

I turned my gaze back to Jack. He was standing there, his eyes wide, the Void Sword keeping steady on his throat. His eyes were pained, but he was clearly smiling despite it all. "Nice. Heh. Nicely done. Congratulations, hero. You've truly saved the innocent! Take a bow."

I cleared my throat as it finished healing, swallowing my own blood, careful not to drop the child in my arms. The infant was wailing heavily, in distress. I...had no idea what to do, there. I looked down.

The infant's skin was turning red, veins swelling visibly. Cries of distress, of _pain_ , were rising, the wail grating on my nerves, even as horror filled me. With a final cry...

The infant exploded in my arms, covering me with gore.

I stood there. Frozen. My ears rang, horror filling me. All that was left were _tiny bits of bone in my hands._ I slowly looked up at the grinning Jack, his eyes filled with glee. In my moment of horror, I'd lost concentration, and he'd taken hold of the Void Sword with his remaining hand. He slashed the air with it, and it cut through me without resistance, the edge of his power cutting through my stomach almost all the way through me. I slid to the roof of the bus, my fingers digging into the metal right in front of me, pain filling me. Holy _hell_ that was cold!

Without a care, without missing a single moment, Jack turned and slashed the air. Vicky let out a scream. Another slash, and the sound of ice on steel reached me, Alucard letting out a grunt of pain.

Just as he raised the blade again, I let it fade into the ether. Jack stopped as his hand was suddenly empty, letting out a grunt of surprise. Still, he reached into his jacket, sliding out another scalpel. I gathered my strength and let out a roar, forcing my body to shift into mist. He turned toward me, slashing instinctively. His power slashed through me, but without the substance of a physical body, it did nothing. He took a step backward as my substance flowed forward, just about to step off the bus before I reformed, wrapping my fist around his neck and flying forward at high speed.

He slashed with the scalpel, cutting my eye. I _didn't give the slightest shit._ We smashed through a nearby office building, the passage made easy with most of the glass having been shattered already. He tried to cut me again, but I gripped his hand and crushed his bones into powder. Frustratingly, he didn't seem to feel the pain. So I scraped his back against a concrete wall, leaving behind a long stream of blood. Sure, he may not feel it, but it made _me_ feel better.

Next thing I knew, we were in open air again. I dove toward the ground, slamming him into the pavement and sending him spilling and tumbling over the sidewalk. I didn't know where we were, and I didn't _care._

He was laughing softly, managing to spit out a bit of blood. "And you pretend to be a hero. Such grace, such _power,_ so easily unleashed. This is the dragon you're so proud of being, my dear?"

 _Rage and hate_ consumed me, the magics of the Void and Chaos begging to be unleashed. I decided to oblige them. I turned, seeing the nearest lamppost, and ripped it out of the ground, the light on the end of it sparking and failing as I advanced on the smug, broken form of Jack Slash. With a thought, the Void Sword reappeared in my hand. I used it to cut the head off the post, snarling at the leader of the Nine. "You _fucking bastard._ You have no standards at all, do you?" I barely even noticed my eye finishing its healing, the cloud of rage consuming me.

He grinned at me as he managed to sit up, seemingly uncaring about his bloody, sorry state. "Know what the best part was? Your face as he exploded. I can see it in your face. All that rage, buried beneath the veneer. You keep saying you're better than me." He spat out a glob of blood. "You're not. I can see it in your eyes right now. You're not _better._ You're just _bigger._ And I'm fine with that."

I ignited my claws, heating the metal at the tip of my improvised instrument. "Difference between you and me isn't _power,_ Jack. I kill you, and I'm done. I'm not going to head on down and start killing people at random. I have _better_ things to do than just be a goddamn psychopath on the run. And yeah..." I felt my fangs lengthening as I spoke. "I am a monster. But I'm not a rabid fucking idiot." I drove the spike into the ground. "The funny part is, Jack? I _do_ bite. I am a bloodsucking fiend of the night. I am the first _real vampire_ on this world. I'm just strong enough to say _fuck you to the sun._ I am _the Dragon._ But even if I was starving, desperate for the smallest drop of blood, I wouldn't want a _single drop_ of you inside me, you fucking bastard. You are beneath me, Jack."

Jack just smiled serenely, his eyes glazed over. I grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Hie eyes widened in realization as I lifted him, pulling him over the spike and steadying his hip. I gave him a vicious grin. "Here's an old favorite of Dracul's. It's still better than you deserve." His feet kicked at me uselessly as I lowered him onto the spike.

He let out a silent scream as I impaled him on it, digging through his flesh and organs until the spike split through his collarbone. I let him go, resting his weight on it as he struggled, kicked, and flailed. I crossed my arms and floated backward, watching coldly as his struggles grew weaker, kicking and flailing uselessly as his feet sought ground.

Eventually, he stopped moving, hanging limply. I floated forward once more, ripped his head off with my bare hands, and placed it on top of the spike.

 _This was well done._

...I'm not sure I like the approval.

I knew, intellectually, that I'd be horrified at my actions when my emotions had finally calmed down a bit. At the moment, though...I just didn't care.

I flew back to the others, my emotions broiling. I landed in front of the bus only to find Meridia holding Vicky, while Alucard sat at her side, carefully pressing his burning blade against Vicky's ice-covered leg, slowly melting the ice from it. He gave me a nod, his voice grave, his expression filled with sympathy. "The last murderer?"

"Dealt with." I said, my voice...empty. I looked over Vicky, somehow managing to keep myself together.

She was trembling, crying softly, her teeth chattering in the cold. She managed to look up at me. "That baby just..."

That did it. I fell to my knees, my eyes watering, and my soul let out a wail. I was only vaguely aware of Meridia's arms wrapping around me as all the stress, the rage, the pain, and horror bottled up within my soul overwhelmed me.

* * *

A/N: I picture Jack's new face looking somewhat like Russel Crowe. When he was younger, naturally. He's still badass these days, though. You ever want to see him as a villain? Watch _Virtuosity_ from 1995, starring Denzel Washington. Had some interesting ideas.


	68. Interlude: Death

A/N: Yeah, this is going to be hard to do justice. I've been really struggling to keep this going the last long while, so...yeah. I'm just happy to get anything done.

* * *

Atrika blinked.

She was standing on a sandy beach, the night sky above her. The stars were innumerable, and while she couldn't see very far, the air seemed clear and calm.

She tried to reach out with her power, to touch the sand and make it move. But there was nothing. Nothing at all.

"Hello my dear." A voice said. She turned to see a man in a black suit, his white hair and beard neatly trimmed. In his fingers he held a cigar, the smoke wafting gently into the air.

She swallowed. "Who are you?"

He looked at her, his gaze piercing. "I am the end of all things. And this is your moment. This is your end. This is where your soul belongs. You crafted it for yourself with your desires, your actions, and your deeds."

She looked around. "A beach at night? I actually kind of like it here."

The man smiled slightly. "Appearances can be deceiving, my dear. I do not have any say in where someone goes when they come into my hands. But perhaps that is for the best. After all, though I am normally not a cruel being, I might be tempted to make things more and more uncomfortable for those who deserve it. However, all things are equal, when I meet them."

Whispers began rising. Shatterbird looked around. There wasn't anyone else here, but it sounded like a multitude of voices. "The heck is that?"

Her companion shrugged. "I believe you know." He didn't sound sad, or angry. It was simply...truth.

Not whispers. Wails. Screams. Cries. Sobs. Pleading. They began to fill her ears completely, and they should have been unintelligible, but somehow she could understand each of them. There were thousands of voices.

His voice was soft as he spoke. "You were dealt a bad hand, my dear. But you still had choices, and you chose to drive shards of glass into innocent people. Of your compatriots, you spilled the most blood, you caused the most pain, and you sent more souls into my hands than any other. And you _knew_ what you were doing. You could have made a bid for freedom and left it at that. You could have done much to help people. Instead, you chose to murder without a care. You chose to cause pain to others to compensate for your own."

Atrika fell to her knees, trying to block out the voices. They kept getting louder, and louder. "Make it stop!" She pleaded with the man.

He simply shook his head. "Even if I could, I would not. How many cries and screams did you hear and revel in? How many people begged you for mercy, and found none? Now that is all you will ever have. Every bit of pain your victims felt. Everyone you've ever hurt. Everyone you've ever killed. Every mother whose child you maimed. Every father who cradled his dying sons and daughters. Everyone you ever sent to my embrace, and everyone who lived in the aftermath of the horror you inflicted without a care. Worry not, my dear. This will end, eventually."

She looked up, trying to breathe through the sheer cacophony ringing through her mind. "H-how?"

He shrugged. "When you have experienced all of the pain your victims have endured at your hands. Living or dead. One at a time."

Her mouth dropped open. "But that's..."

He shrugged again. "Many, many thousands. When it is over, you may enjoy your solitude on the beach as is your wish. But until then...I suggest you get to work. It will be easier to select a victim's experience if you can focus on a single voice. That there are so many...well, that is _your_ problem."

He vanished. The voices and screams in her ears were her only company. And Atrika screamed, her fingers tearing into the soft sand beneath her.

* * *

Alan Gramme was making dinner. Rebecca was due home any minute, and Jessa and Michael would be there as soon as they got home from school. He'd been up working on schematics for the first lunar colony for the last week, and the primary site was already being built with drones. It was a hope that humanity could begin colonizing the solar system. A way to escape the ongoing devastation that Behemoth and Leviathan were inflicting on the world.

He checked the clock. Rebecca must be running late. The lasagna would be ready in five minutes or so. He took a moment to look out the window, brushing the black drapes out of the way. Where was she? And why did the drapes feel so cold?

"Hello Alan." A soft voice spoke.

He turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Dad? Why didn't you say you were dropping by?" Something was weird, here. Something just...off.

His father, Jonathan Gramme, looked at him sadly. "Alan. Sit down. Please."

Carefully, Alan slid into the chair at his kitchen table. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Jonathan closed his eyes for a moment. "Think carefully, Alan. Three years before this day. The hospital."

Alan stopped. And thought. The memory was foggy, but eventually, it came. Alan paled. "You're dead."

Jonathan nodded. "Cancer. Seven years of fighting it. And now, you're dead too." Jonathan made a gesture, and suddenly, there was a figure floating at Alan's side. A skeleton in a black cloak, a long scythe resting on its shoulder.

With a chill, Alan realized something. He didn't have black drapes. He'd been... _ignoring_ the fact that Death was in the room.

Jonathan's voice was filled with sadness. "Alan, think. What happened tomorrow. The third Endbringer came. She killed Rebecca, and Michael, and Jessa. Then what you did afterward."

Alan sat still, swallowing hard. He looked down at his hands, then shivered as the memories came flooding in. Sealing himself inside a set of molecularly bonded armor, a variation on one of his designs for a near-impenetrable space suit. Then refining the design, cutting out the bits of him that weren't needed to keep him alive. Joining the Nine, murdering those who tried to change things for the better. Especially other Tinkers.

Alan's hands began to shake. "What is this, Dad? What is this place?"

Death gestured, extending a bony hand to Jonathan. Alan's father took it, getting to his feet. "I asked Death for this, Alan. I could see what you've been doing. I'm disappointed, son. Very disappointed. While the Simurgh is responsible for killing them, and had a hand in twisting your mind...she just nudged you in the right direction. You still killed people, good people. People who were trying to do the right thing." Gently, he squeezed Alan's shoulder. "I'm sorry, son. Rebecca, Michael, and Jessa have watched you do all those terrible things. And so have I. They're not coming home, Alan. They're together, elsewhere, and happy. You've got no place with them, now."

Alan sprung to his feet. "Dad, wait!"

Jonathan shook his head. "I'm sorry, Alan. I know how much you've missed them. I know what your grief and rage have driven you to. But..it will be a very, very long time before I'm ready to come back here."

Death spoke, in words that were not words, a chilling echo that carved deep into Alan's mind. "Tʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴɢs, Aʟᴀɴ. Tʜɪs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀɪᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀʟᴋᴇᴅ. Iᴛ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ, ғᴏʀ ғᴇᴡ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴀʀᴇ. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇᴀʀɴᴇᴅ. Iɴ ᴛɪᴍᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ ʙᴇ ғʀᴇᴇ ᴏғ ʜᴇʀᴇ. Bᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ. Tʜɪs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏsᴛ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs, ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛs ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴏʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏᴘᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍs ᴏғ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs, ᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ʜᴀᴅ ʙᴇᴇɴ."

The pair walked out the front door. Alan tried to follow, only for it to slam shut just before he could cross the threshold. No matter how he tried, he couldn't open the door to his own house. He couldn't even open a window.

He slumped against a wall, burying his face in his hands, and cried.

* * *

Riley sculpted the sand in front of her. The sandcastle was coming along nicely, and all she had to do was to shape the tower at the back of it and put in little windows. Tongue just slightly poking out of the corner of her mouth, she carved out the windows with a stick, careful not to twitch and send it all spilling down. The warm waters of the lakeside shore lapped gently, not at all threatening to the elaborate work of the little girl.

"There! Finished!" She grinned at her handiwork, the castle complete.

"That's nice work there, Riley." A woman's voice spoke, warm and compassionate. Riley turned her head, smiling at the middle-aged but pretty woman who sat on the lawnchair, her sunglasses tilted up as she looked at Riley's sandcastle. "I think that looks rather familiar." Her smile widened, the silver skull necklace swinging slightly. "Is it from...the Hobbit?"

Riley made a bored face, but her eyes were gleaming, and she let out a giggle. "Nope!"

The woman nodded. "Hmm...then is it from The Little Mermaid?"

Riley giggled again. "Nope!"

A tap to the chin and a mischievous smile. "The Lion King?"

Riley laughed. "There's no castles in that one, silly!"

The woman smiled. "All right then, where's it from?"

Riley nodded with enthusiasm. "It's from Sleeping Beauty! It's mine and mommy's favoritest movie. The best part's when the handsome prince finally wakes her up!"

The woman nodded with a smile. "It's a good story. It's a classic from long before you were born."

Riley giggled again. She looked around, a slight frown coming onto her face. "Where's is mommy? I haven't seen her for a while."

The woman shook her head. "Your mommy's been waiting for you, Riley. I'll take you to her soon, but..." She looked sad, and sympathetic, but also determined. "It's time for you remember, little one."

Riley's hands trembled, fear flooding her mind. "But I don't want to. All the blood and screams and pain and...the _fun_ I had...I don't want to remember it all. Can I just..."

Her companion shook her head, but her voice was gentle. "As much as I would like to spare you that pain, you need to be whole before you can see her. There is much you buried, many you harmed. You didn't want to be a nightmare, but you were, to many, many people. You were prepared to cause more harm than anyone ever had in history. You were prepared to drive humanity into extinction. Now how you ended was not your fault...but it left a mark upon you that must be acknowledged before it can heal. Before you can move on."

Riley's lip trembled as the memories trickled back in. Slowly, piecemeal. The pain and horror she inflicted on others. She had the power to help people by the millions, to cure cancer, to even resurrect the recently dead.

And with that power, the power to change the world infinitely for the better... she made monsters. Keeping her victims alive, aware, _screaming_ as they did her bidding. She even made jokes about it, giving them names. Screamy, Waily, Cryly, and Moe. Because Moe moped. It had seemed so funny at the time. Now there wasn't anything funny about it.

Riley fell to the sand and buried her hands in it, trying to frantically clean off the blood she could _feel_ there. "I'm a bad girl, a bad girl! I'm the _worst girl ever._ "

To no avail. The feelings of being _unclean_ remained. She yanked on her hair, trying to pull it out in clumps. Her companion gently squeezed Riley's shoulder, and she looked up, her eyes filled with soul-destroying memories. "Please, I don't wanna be Bonesaw. I don't...I don't deserve to be Riley. I don't like _anything_ about me."

The woman gave her a gentle, caring smile. "I know, my dear. Much of what you had done is because of Jack. He had a very large hand in shaping the person you became. But the fact remains there's a lot of blood, a lot of pain and suffering caused by you. Nobody should do such terrible things. I have had to comfort so very many people, those you hurt, those you mutilated."

Riley's voice was hollow. "Nothing I say will fix it, will it?"

The gentle woman shook her head. "No. Words won't change what you did. They won't heal those you hurt, nor will they bring back those you killed. But it's over now, Riley." She gently wiped away Riley's tears. "Your mother is waiting for you. She has been, all this time. Once you are together, then together you may decide what to do."

Riley's brow furrowed. "What to do? What is there to do? We're dead! We can't do anything!"

A smile of amusement. "And yet death is a new beginning. Once together, my dear, you may choose many fates. Despite everything you had done, much of what you did was not made by your own choice. You were led to it, step by step, and twisted by it, by the mind and will of another. So you now have choices, the choices you were denied in life. It is my hope you choose well."

Riley nodded slowly, her voice quiet. "I want to see mommy now."

Death gently took Riley's hand, and together they walked out of the happy memory, and into a large hallway made from glowing blue crystals. People were milling about, happy people, excited people. Riley's jaw dropped as she pointed at a pair of blue women, their heads topped by a mass of tentacles. Despite their inhumanity, however, they seemed sociable enough. One was petting a dog, the animal's tail wagging furiously, while the other was happily chatting with a very thin, short, gray being, shorter than Riley herself.

"What are they?" Riley asked with fascination. If she could feel her power, she had no doubt all sorts of interesting things would be flooding into her mind. As it was...they were simply _neat_.

Her companion chuckled with a smile. "You didn't think I dealt with only humanity, did you?"

"Riley!" A voice called out of the crowd. People parted as a youthful blonde made her way through, desperate to reach the pair.

"Mommy!" Riley cried out, running from Death's gentle grip and hugged her mother about the waist. Tears flowed from the reunited mother and daughter.

And a faint smile rested on the face of Death.

* * *

Identical faces stared at the other. One twisted with loathing, the other with hatred.

"I hate you!"

"Well, I hate you too, you bitch! You ruined my life!"

"I _saved_ our life! If it wasn't for me, we'd have died in that fire!"

"We should have! It would have been better than being with the fucking Nine! And _you_ didn't keep us from being ripped apart by a fucking monster!"

Mimi sat across from Burnscar. Surrounding the pair of near-identical women was the home they lived in. The home that defined their existence. The home where Mimi was trapped, where she became Burnscar.

"What the hell are you, anyway?" Mimi demanded.

A new voice spoke, harsh, dark, yet somehow soothing. Final. "She is a second soul. Rather unusual, but I have seen a few such situations before." A young man, handsome, his voice filled with a deep sarcastic tone. His beard was neatly trimmed, and his hair was as black as night.

Mimi and Burnscar looked at the man. "Two souls?" They said in unison, then glared at each other.

An annoyed glance to the pair. "The moment you gained your power, my dear Mimi, you connected to a fragment of a creature both far more and less than yourself. The creature made changes to your mind, and as a result, it fragmented." He nodded to Burnscar. "That was the moment _you_ were born. You're built off a template, you insane, psychotic thing. You burned people alive for fun, and you did it again and again. And you always whispered in Mimi's ear, wanting for another moment to be free once more. Had your situation gone on for much longer, it's probable you would have devoured Mimi entirely."

Burnscar's face twisted in hatred and rage. "Who are you to judge me!? I did what I had to do, what _she_ always wanted to do in the back of her head! I was _free._ "

The man glared. "And now, you are dead." A scythe appeared from nowhere, resting in the man's hands. Burnscar's eyes widened as he advanced upon her, while Mimi scrambled back.

"Hey!" Burnscar yelled. "We can take him together!" She looked desperately at Mimi, who was paralysed with fear, cowering against a wall. "We can kill him, just help me!"

"No. You can't. _You_ do not belong here, Burnscar. _Mimi_ does. Goodbye." He spoke impassively. Without a care, he turned and cut the air with the scythe. The air _tore,_ and a great black void appeared in the rip. Burnscar screamed as she was dragged toward it, while the scythe wielding man and Mimi herself were unaffected.

With a scream, Burnscar was pulled inside the void. With a gesture, the man closed the rift, and the room was as solid and normal as it was an instant before.

Then he turned to look upon Mimi. The scythe vanished, and he stood there with an outstretched hand. "Come, my dear. While there is much upon your head, much that stains your soul...your primary sin was that of cowardice. You were afraid to take responsibility for yourself, and you feared the consequences of the actions of your other self. While you must answer for these things...it is a far lesser trial for you than for your counterpart."

Swallowing in fear, Mimi took his hand and let herself be pulled to her feet. Her lip trembled as she spoke, her voice wavering. "What will happen to me?"

He shrugged. "I do not know, although it is likely rebirth. Many such souls who have lived lives like your own get another chance. It may be some time before that day comes. Your greatest crimes consist mostly of allowing Burnscar to do as she wished."

She shook her head. "But I _am_ Burnscar. I remember everything I did. How it felt."

His voice softened. "Yes. But souls are sometimes more complicated than you may imagine, my dear. In essence, you had two minds. Two minds created two souls. That they were fundamentally linked in almost every respect doesn't change that. But I know that _Mimi_ did not want to harm anyone in the beginning. _Burnscar_ reveled in that very thing. That was enough of a divide to prevent you two from merging."

Mimi shuddered, then gently squeezed his hand. She looked at where the rip in the air had been. "Where did you send her? Hell?"

A slight smirk arose on his lips. "Worse. Wisconsin." At her incredulous look, he sighed. "I always wanted to say that. No, she is gone. From nothingness she arose, and to nothingness she shall return."

* * *

Doctor William Manton stood over the body of his daughter.

It failed. The formula failed. It hadn't saved her. Formulas saved almost _everyone,_ but it didn't save her. Annie was gone, and with her, so was everything that mattered.

He looked down at the formula in his hand. A different one, but maybe it would let him do something. To have the power he always wanted, the powers he studied in others. The power to _make them all pay._

Annie's eyes opened, and the vial dropped from his fingers, shattering on the floor.

Slowly, she sat up and looked at him. Then she smacked him across the cheek.

He rubbed his cheek. "H-how? Why?"

She looked at him, anger and rage in her eyes. "You used my image to _kill people and eat them._ What the hell, dad!? What the fuck is wrong with you!? Hell, you didn't even have it wearing clothes when you did it!"

William clenched his hands, counted to ten, and spoke slowly. The memories came flooding back in. "I did it for vengeance against Cauldron, Annie. You died because they didn't give me the resources I needed to save you. They failed you, and I had to show them that they couldn't just string me along forever. I _showed them_ they were not _gods._ "

Annie got off bed she lay on. The hospital gown barely covered her, but with a thought, she was suddenly wearing a long, flowing white dress. She also seemed...older. Like the image of her he used to build the Siberian. But where the Siberian was terrifying, she was simply...well, human.

Her voice was filled with hatred. "You were always absorbed, dad. Always worrying about what _you_ wanted. Your career, your fame, putting your name on things. You wanted to be the next Einstein, and all you did in the end was murder people. What's worse, _you lucked out._ You could have done _so much_ with the power you got, and all you did was _kill._ "

"Annie, I-"

Annie smacked him across the face again. "You had a power that could have stopped Behemoth! You could have killed it years ago, and maybe, just _maybe,_ have saved millions of lives."

He gritted his teeth. "The projection had a good range, but not _that_ good a range. I would have died if I went up against Behemoth."

A new, soft voice spoke. "And instead, you killed the greatest hope this world had."

William turned his head.

A man wearing a gray suit, his hair short and blond, his features seemingly honed and shaped for rugged handsomeness. He gently adjusted his collar. "You killed Hero, Clark Bell, out of spite. He had the power to change this world, he had the potential to lead it into a golden age. He inspired heroes from one end of your country to the other, and he might have found a way to free Ifrit, Lotan, and Ariel of their bonds a long time ago. And you killed him because he had what you didn't." The man looked annoyed. "A pity he's already moved on. Else I would have arranged for him to make his grievances clear with you, William."

Annie stepped over to the man's side, gently taking his arm. "I don't want to ever see him again."

The man nodded. "That can be arranged."

That jolted William out of his surprise. "Wait, Annie, I did all this for you!"

Her face twisted in disgust. "I know. That's what makes it all the worse."

Flash.

Doctor William Manton stood over the body of his daughter.

It failed. The formula failed. It hadn't saved her. Formulas saved almost _everyone,_ but it didn't save her. Annie was gone, and with her, so was everything that mattered.

Her eyes opened, and her body rippled into the form of the Siberian. She gripped his hand, crushing the vial held in it. He screamed as the glass shards dug into his skin.

Without a care, the Siberian brought the crushed remnants of his hand to her lips and bit off his crushed fingers. He struggled to pull away, but he was helpless against the invincible woman. Slowly, methodically, she ate away at the man who projected her, who used her.

Flash.

Doctor William Manton stood over the body of his daughter.

It failed. The formula failed. It hadn't saved her. Formulas saved almost _everyone,_ but it didn't save her. Annie was gone, and with her, so was everything that mattered.

Her eyes opened. William screamed in horror as she shifted into the Siberian.

* * *

Hatchet Face strode through the woods. The hatchet in his hand, that which gave him his namesake, dripped with blood. It was something he took pleasure in, seeing the powerful, the arrogant, the egotistical, all brought down to simply _human._

And humans were fragile. He was not. Fragile, or human, that is. He was better. He was _chosen_ to remove them all, the blasphemous monsters that masqueraded as heroes, and villains. They were _monsters._ And it was his duty to wipe them out.

His target was up ahead. She was running, screaming, calling for help.

Stupid woman. Nobody was around here for miles. This idiotic little bitch thought she was clever, trying to attack him at a distance with her aerokinesis. He was tough enough to handle it, though, and Bonesaw made him even tougher still. All it took was a good leap, and she was in his range.

And in his range, she was nobody.

He liked to play with his targets. While they looked at him, he walked. Methodically, purposefully, with a stride that ate distance, but not so much that he would catch up too quickly. And when he knew they were looking away, he would move _fast,_ taking longer strides, and even now and again running to keep up. All he had to do was make sure they stayed in his range, so that the more speedy targets couldn't get away.

Of course, in those situations, it helped to be prepared. Such as picking the place for an ambush in treacherous terrain. Or simply approaching in a crowd, with his power turned off. Bonesaw's upgrades to his physiology was so very, very helpful there.

She finally tripped, scrambling away on her back, her eyes wide in fear as he reached her. He lifted his weapon, grinning behind his mask.

Another one falls. He brought the hatchet down.

It passed through his target without resistance. And without visible effect. She spoke, her words all too familiar, though the deep sarcastic, deadpan tone was definitely not usual for this situation. "Oh, no. Please. Don't hurt me. I'll do anything." She got to her feet and dusted herself off, the dirt of the forest floor easily being shed from her leather pants.

He looked to the hatchet in his hand. Then back at his target. He tried to hack into her again. The blade of his hatchet simply passed through again. With a grumble, he waved it back and forth through her head, trying to disrupt the image.

Fucking projections. Least this one didn't have any substance. He had a fair bit of trouble with one, once. Some six years ago. Luckily, that one had a short range.

He turned away, grumbling to himself, when her voice caught his attention. "You can't kill me, because I am not alive. I am no projection, no phantom. I am The End. I am Death. And your time is done."

He stayed silent. It was a way to keep his facade up. He never spoke while wearing the mask. Only when it was off. And he rarely took it off. Only to eat, and sometimes to collaborate with the rest of the Nine.

" _I feel nothing." Flame appeared in the pale monster's hand. How? Powers never worked in his range. Technology did, but other things never did._

 _Then flame burned out his eyes, and sharp pain as that blade sliced through his body. The hard, cold floor, his blood leaking from between his fingers. Then more pain...and nothing._

Slowly, he reached up and took off his mask, glaring at the goth woman. All this had been...nothing but a memory. A memory _she_ inserted herself into, and calmly played a little part in, until she tired of it.

He glared at her, his face...misshapen. Twisted, and scarred. A result of a clash with a Tinker who specialized in acid. He'd been pleased when Bonesaw had given him the face of another for the attempt to break down this 'Scarlet Dragon.' A chance to feel more like himself.

"So what now?" He spoke. The impulse to simply try and hack through her again came and went. Intellectually, he knew it was useless already, but some habits were rather hard to break.

She shrugged. "You stay here. Alone. You acted as a hunter, attacking the helpless. Now? I am afraid you will get to know what it means to be the prey."

Howls began to rise in the woods. Hatchet Face turned, holding his weapon. He turned, this way and that, trying to see...

Golden eyes appeared between the trees. A great, black wolf. And another, to the left. And another, further over. Gleaming fangs bared, the pack raring themselves up to attack.

Then teeth tore into the back of his leg, and he screamed as he fell. He lashed out with the hatchet, the weapon biting into flesh, and the attacking wolf let out a yelp as it fell back.

The girl smiled slightly as she looked at him. "I suggest you start running."

Hatchet Face struggled to his feet, the torn muscles of his leg making the act near-impossible. He limped as the wolves began to close in around him. He roared in challenge as the pack came his way, snarling and growling.

* * *

"Hᴇʟʟᴏ Jᴀᴄᴋ."

Jack looked around, his hands instinctively going for the scalpels he had in his coat. Only, he didn't _have_ his coat. He was surrounded by darkness, and all he could feel he had was a pair of jeans and an old, ratty shirt. He grimaced. "Where the hell am I?" The last thing he remembered was...struggling to breathe, struggling to _live,_ after the spike Scarlet improvised had torn through his primary heart. Bonesaw had given him a secondary, but it hadn't been enough to keep him going with the rest of his vital organs having been ripped to shreds. He was...actually rather proud of that. He hadn't known such viciousness was in the girl.

"I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪs ғᴏʀ ǫᴜɪᴛᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ, Jᴀᴄᴋ." The voice spoke, quiet, chilling. "Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ sᴏ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴍᴀɴʏ ᴡʜᴏ ᴅɪᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴀɴᴅ. Sᴏ ᴍᴀɴʏ I ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴍғᴏʀᴛ, ᴛᴏ ʜᴀɴᴅʟᴇ, ᴀs ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴛɪᴍᴇ."

Jack chuckled softly. "Well, what do I care? They didn't matter. Nobody gave a shit about them, else I'd have been stopped a long time ago. Little peons don't matter. _King_ mattered. It took Harbinger and I both to take him out, and we grew all the more for it. And all it took was two hundred and fifty people who never would have accomplished anything otherwise. Well, something like that. I forget the actual number."

The voice was cold, becoming hard, angry, yet in complete control. "Aʟʟ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ, Jᴀᴄᴋ. Eᴠᴇʀʏ sᴏᴜʟ ɪs ᴜɴɪǫᴜᴇ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴏɴᴇ ɪs ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ, sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟ. I ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀɪɴɢ Kɪɴɢ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍʏ ʜᴀɴᴅs, ʙᴜᴛ I ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴀʟsᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴅᴇᴍɴ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ sᴜғғᴇʀɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴠɪsɪᴛᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ᴄᴀʀᴇ. Aɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛᴡᴏ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ғɪғᴛʏ-sᴇᴠᴇɴ. I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʀᴇᴄɪᴛᴇ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ɴᴀᴍᴇs, Jᴀᴄᴋ. I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴛᴇʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇs ᴏғ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ sɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠɪᴄᴛɪᴍs. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛʟᴇss, ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪᴛ ɴᴏᴛ?"

A slight smile pulled at his lips. "Actually, might be fun. Maybe I can put a few faces to the names, remember how I killed them. Would be a nice way to pass the time."

Disappointment in that cold voice. "Yᴏᴜʀ sᴏᴜʟ ɪs ᴛʀᴜʟʏ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ, ɪsɴ'ᴛ ɪᴛ? Nᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sʟɪɢʜᴛᴇsᴛ ʙɪᴛ ᴏғ ɢᴇɴᴛʟᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇss ɴᴏʀ ᴄᴀʟᴍɪɴɢ ʟɪɢʜᴛ. Yᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴅ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ ɪɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ sᴛᴇᴇᴘᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ sᴏᴜʟ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪsʜ ɪᴛ. A sʜᴀᴍᴇ."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Doesn't matter to me what you thought. I had fun. That's all that really mattered, you know? I. Had. Fun. I enjoyed slaughtering Bonesaw's family and twisting her. I enjoyed manipulating Burnscar into believing she had no options. I enjoyed steering Hatchet Face at the Brutes that had to be taken down a notch. Or a head. I enjoyed letting the Siberian loose on people to watch her tear people apart. I enjoyed slicing people to ribbons. I _had fun._ "

The voice was even colder. "Iɴᴅᴇᴇᴅ. Aʟᴀs, Jᴀᴄᴋ, I ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴅ ɴᴇᴡs ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ."

He shrugged. "Figured. I'm dead. You know, I wasn't actually expecting an afterlife. I wasn't expecting anything at all, that's one of the reasons I just sought to enjoy myself. Ah well. What happens now? This the part where we get the fire and pointy objects?"

"Nᴏ, Jᴀᴄᴋ. Yᴏᴜʀ sᴏᴜʟ ᴅᴏᴇs ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ Hᴇʟʟs. Iɴ ғᴀᴄᴛ, ʏᴏᴜʀ sᴏᴜʟ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢs ɴᴏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ. Tʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛs ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ɪᴛ. Rᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇɪɴᴄᴀʀɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ɪs ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ. Tʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴs ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ. Yᴏᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ sɪᴍᴘʟʏ...ᴄᴇᴀsᴇ."

Jack frowned, then shrugged. "Well, least I'm not disappointed. I had fun with it all. Kinda surprised I'm not getting the hellfire, though. What happened, you forget to fill out the paperwork?"

The voice had a faint undertone of satisfaction."Nᴏ, Jᴀᴄᴋ. Tʜᴇ ᴊᴏʙ ᴏғ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟs ɪs ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴏᴜʟs ᴏғ ᴍᴏɴsᴛᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ, ᴇɪᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏ sᴛʀɪᴘ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴍᴏɴsᴛʀᴏᴜsɴᴇss ᴀɴᴅ sᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʀᴇʙᴏʀɴ, ᴏʀ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴜʀɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟs ᴛʜᴇᴍsᴇʟᴠᴇs. Yᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍᴏɴsᴛʀᴏᴜs ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ. Fᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ sɪᴍᴘʟᴇ ғᴀᴄᴛ ɪs...ʏᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴅɪᴅ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅɪᴅ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇᴅ ɪᴛ. Tʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴊᴏʙ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ. Dᴇᴍᴏɴs sᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Lᴀᴅʏ ᴏғ Dᴀʀᴋɴᴇss, ᴀɴᴅ ɪғ sʜᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴘᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ʏᴏᴜ, sʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴏᴛ. Tʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴs ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴀ sᴏᴜʟ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ. Aɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ʀᴇʙᴏʀɴ, ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ғᴀʀ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴍᴀɴʏ sᴏᴜʟs ʏᴏᴜ sᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ sᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴘᴀɪɴ. Yᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ɴᴏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ, Jᴀᴄᴏʙ. Aɴᴅ sᴏ ʏᴏᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ."

A feeling, like ice, began to climb up his legs. Jack tried to move, to press his hands against his knees, only to feel himself...fading. "Hey, quit doing that! I thought that you would be a good sport about all this!"

"I ᴀᴍ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ. Wᴇʀᴇ ɪᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ sᴘᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴ ᴇᴛᴇʀɴɪᴛʏ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀsᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴘᴇɴᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴇɴᴛɪʀᴇ ᴄʜɪʟᴅʜᴏᴏᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ. Bᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ. Gᴏᴏᴅʙʏᴇ, Jᴀᴄᴋ."

Jack clenched his teeth as the substance of his soul dissolved, fading into the void. While it was technically true that nothing is truly ever destroyed, only changes, the mind of Jack Slash was gone. What little remained of his soul would, in time, go on to join the substance of other things...but that had no meaning to Jack Slash himself.

* * *

 _About four years later._

Crawler opened his eyes. All twelve of them. He was surrounded by the void of space, the sun had shrunken down to a dot. The stars surrounded him, and he tried to breathe. Only for the sheer lack of air to make him realize just how screwed he was. Space. He was _still_ in space! What the hell had Dragon done to him? The last thing he remembered was being on the wrong end of that bright, powerful light.

He wasn't in any pain, it was just...uncomfortable here. He actually would have preferred pain. Because then he'd be changing, growing, becoming stronger. And more importantly, he would _feel_ something. Apparently his body had adapted to the void of space by becoming a hard, immobile shell. Even if he'd landed somewhere, he'd be a freaking _tree!_ Wait, no. He could move his claws. Great.

Wait. There was something. A slight tugging on his back. He struggled to turn himself, only for his eyes to widen as he took in the sight before him.

Jupiter loomed. The king of the planets, striped with powerful storms. The Great Red Spot took his attention for a moment. But he'd actually miss it, as he was heading right for the equator.

" _Oh you fucking bitch!"_ He howled as he plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere, the air just enough to let him hear himself. Then his rather extreme speed lit him on fire as Jupiter's extreme gravity pulled him in. His outer layers burned as they were reduced to plasma, but he was tough enough to survive long enough for his power to adapt the right structure to handle the extraordinarily dangerous conditions of Jupiter's atmosphere.

It would be several weeks before he fell deep enough into Jupiter's atmosphere to smack into the metallic hydrogen layer. The immense pressures and radiation, however, posed a problem for even his power. He adapted, but the conditions were so fierce they caused slight feedback upon the interdimensional connections that gave Crawler his power. It would be about a century of him surviving within the ludicrously hostile environment of Jupiter's dense atmosphere before the shard cut the connection. At that point, Crawler would no longer heal, and he would be crushed by the immense pressures, heat, and composition of the giant planet. But that would be quite some time in the future.

Jupiter, of course, did not notice or care that it had eaten Crawler. It was a planet, and planets, though they had souls, were not very sophisticated, after all.

Though its rather rudimentary soul would not mind having a comet or two to snack upon...

* * *

A/N: The casting lists of Death:

Shatterbird: Sean Connery.  
Alan Gramme: Discworld Death.  
Bonesaw: Julianne Moore.  
Burnscar: Alan Rickman.  
William Manton: Brad Pitt.  
Hatchet Face: Angelina Jolie.  
Jack Slash: Discworld again.  
Crawler: The audience. Yes, you guys!


	69. Interlude: Amy, Dragon, Alexandria

A/N: Phew. Now, hopefully, I can get back on top of things.

* * *

 _May 27th, 2011_

Amy grit her teeth. Kid Win lay still beneath her fingers.

Before her transformation into a vampire, she could have healed this wound _easily._ Now the best she could do was close it, but the damage was severe. If she had several hours, she might be able to heal the damage to his lung, fix the spine, and keep the massive arterial damage from making him bleed out. Hell, if Taylor _still_ had Bonesaw's power, she might have managed it.

As it was, she was trying to heal him in fits and starts, in the moments between when Clockblocker's power stopped working and when the Ward could freeze Kid Win again.

"Amara." Paladin's voice got her attention, the newest Ward's voice strained. Amy shook her head as she looked up.

The amulets laid around in the circle were glowing a bright blue, and growing brighter. Paladin spoke with some urgency. "You'd better get out of the room, I'm about to finish here and we don't know how bad it'll be if you're exposed to the light."

Amy swallowed and got to her feet. _Small_ exposure to Light Magic burned her skin. A flare of it might just outright turn her to ash.

Clockblocker spoke with worry. "Wait wait, are we going to be okay?"

Paladin grimaced a bit. "My powers and hers don't interact very well. We'll be fine, but Amara might get hurt."

Amy nodded, giving Clockblocker a smile. "Did some testing earlier. Light and I don't mix." She stepped out of the room, wringing her hands as she went down the hall. She decided to take shelter in the storeroom, surrounded by bottles of water and small provisions. Endbringer shelters were designed to handle immense stresses for short periods, the usual battle against an Endbringer was over quickly. Win...or lose. But there was always the chance that a shelter might get buried or otherwise inaccessible for a long period.

She shut her eyes as she sat in the comforting dark, letting the stress of the night slowly fade. Though it would be days before she might actually feel better. If ever.

To see her parents like that, reduced to playthings at Bonesaw's hands, it was a nightmare. It hadn't been easy living under Carol, but even on the worst days, she wouldn't have wanted her adoptive mother to be reduced to a helpless doll. What was worse was how _difficult_ her power was to work with now. On herself? Fine, that was _easy._ On others? More difficult than anything. If Taylor hadn't possessed Bonesaw, it would have been impossible to save her adoptive parents.

The door knocked. Amy looked up. "Come in."

Gallant opened it, entering the room carefully, then closed it a little awkwardly. It looked like he instinctively tried to shut the door with his left hand, but he didn't _have_ that anymore. And with her power weakened like this, it would probably take weeks for her to grow him a functional replacement. He'd probably be better off with prosthetics...if that wasn't a possible giveaway about his identity.

"Hey." He spoke softly. "Can we talk?" He paused for a moment, seemingly in consideration. "Amy?"

With a blink, Amy grimaced. Of _course_ he would see through the disguise. She sighed, and gestured to the wall by the door. "Sit down, Dean."

He slowly sank down against the wall, rubbing the stump of his arm. "I wondered why Vicky wasn't all that upset. What happened?"

Amy began to quietly talk.

* * *

Dragon felt the tug.

She hadn't realized just how far out into the solar system she'd gotten when she was fighting Crawler. It took her a little while to remember she could home in on Earth using the radio signals human civilization was generating.

In Dragon's defense, though, she hadn't _noticed_ the passage of time while basking in the light of the Sun. The feeling of power and rapture was something entirely outside of her experience. Gaining the power of Light seemed to have expanded her awareness in a lot of unexpected ways, and with all that it was hard to adjust, at times. Though it was probably a lot easier than it would have been for a human. How the hell did humans deal with all those _sensations_ all the time?

Still, she could feel the call, in the back of her head. Words that weren't quite words, but understandable all the same. _I need you here. I need help. I can't do this myself._

The image filled her mind, and exercising powers she still barely understood, Dragon willed herself there.

Light, as bright as that of the Sun itself, burned for a brief moment before Dragon vanished.

Awareness returned as she found herself standing in an Endbringer shelter, a circle of Light Magic amulets surrounding her. She quickly looked around, getting her bearings.

"Dragon! It worked!" Paladin's voice spoke. Dragon turned her head to see the Ward kneeling before her.

The rest of the room was mostly empty, the various injured Wards sitting against the walls. Dragon looked over at the prone form of Kid Win, Clockblocker sitting over him, one hand on the wounded Tinker's shoulder. He was expressionless behind that mask, but it was easy enough to see the worry and fear, there.

Paladin spoke quickly. "Kid Win needs healing. We've been trying to keep him alive long enough for you to get to him. Amara's done what she can, but he's right on the edge."

Clockblocker looked up, worry in his body language. "Those amulets are helping, but it's not enough. How are you going to help? I just don't get it."

Paladin's voice was tired. "We'll explain later. But, basically? Dragon had a second trigger."

Dragon nodded. "Long story, which can wait. There's a lot we're going to have to say."

She stepped over the injured Ward. She could feel the power of Light within. Logical, but warm. Gentle, yet also powerful. Strong, but ethereal. She gathered it within her body, feeling it fill her chassis, ready for the moment.

Kid Win's abruptly unfroze, shuddering painfully as Clockblocker's power wore off. Dragon poured her power into his body, encouraging growth, healing, strength, _life._

Light filled the Endbringer shelter. When it faded a few seconds later, Kid Win was lying still. Carefully, Clockblocker checked the injured Ward's pulse.

Silence reigned for a moment before Clockblocker finally spoke. "He's alive. Weak, but alive." He looked over at Vista, the young girl lying still. "Think you can repeat that trick?"

Dragon nodded, inwardly smiling. "I think I can."

There was a faint, tired humor in his voice. "Good. I kinda miss her smacking me."

* * *

 _May 28th, 2011_

Armsmaster sat across the table from the newest Ward, his mouth turned down in disapproval.

Madison sat there, her helmet off, looking back at him without the slightest hint of shame. The length of the Vampire Killer's chain rested on the table, the middle of it broken and torn by the Siberian's invincible hands.

"You disobeyed orders." His voice was quiet, reproachful. "I told you not to engage with Mannequin. You did it anyway. If Velocity hadn't gotten there in time, you might be dead. And then you did it _again_ when the Siberian showed up at the Dallon house. Had the Siberian simply attacked outright, you would be _dead._ "

Madison shook her head. "If I hadn't engaged Mannequin when I had, he would have killed people. Even while we were fighting, he tried to kill nurses at the hospital. I was reasonably confident I could handle him, I can't step back and let people get hurt." Her voice dipped a little. "Not again, Armsmaster. Never again. I swore that to _her_ when I turned myself in. I accepted that when she told me to clean up. If I turned away, if I let Mannequin go without even _trying_ to stop him, it would spit on the second chance I've been given. And if I did that? My power would abandon me. I can feel that. I _know_ that. If I did that? I couldn't help anyone anymore. My amulets would run out of charge if they're used too fast, and they take a long time to regenerate on their own. The equipment I made wouldn't work for me anymore. They'd have to go to someone else. Someone worthy of them."

She sighed, gently stroking her cheek. "Everything I make has that condition built into them, with the exception of the amulets. Worthy people. People who won't abuse their power. I'm _not_ exempt. If I turned away from Mannequin, knowing he was going to kill people, I'd have betrayed it. I've had betrayed all the reasons I joined up in the first place. I didn't ignore your order because I didn't care. I understood why you gave it. I ignored it because it was the right thing to do."

His frown deepened. "That something you know for certain?"

Madison nodded. "I know it. As sure as you know anything you built, Armsmaster. My power..." She bit her lip. "It gives me what I need to build these things." She gently wrapped her knuckles on her left gauntlet. "I have some more ideas in my head, to make some things other people can use. But they have to live up to a standard that isn't mine in order to use it. They have to be...well, paladins in the ideal sense. Truth. Justice. To heal freely, to learn unclouded by bias, to give order and direction where there is none." She smiled slightly. "I know I'm a probationary Ward. But even my _power_ has me on probation, first. I can't run from people who are going to do harm, not without _trying_ to stop them. To try and _fail_ is acceptable. To not try at all is not."

Armsmaster sat still for a few moments, thinking. Finally he spoke. "You're going to be on monitor duty for a _long_ time, Paladin. Unless and until emergencies occur. Your actions will be under review until things get sorted out. We are _also_ going to sit down with Director Piggot as soon as arrangements can be made." He looked at the broken Tinkertech whip that rested on the center of the table. His voice gave nothing away. "I'll expect for you to get your equipment repaired to the best of your ability."

Madison blinked. Then there was a slight smile on the edge of her lips. "Understood."

* * *

 _May 30th, 2011_

The city was in recovery. There was a lot of property damage, and there had been quite a few people killed by Shatterbird's scream. But compared to what they could have done, compared to the nightmares the Nine usually left in their wake, Brockton Bay had gotten off lightly.

The city was still under quarantine, though the prion cloud had dissipated. Those infected were being slowly cured by several treatment centers that had popped up around the city. Dragon didn't need much, just a simple archway that had Light Magic channeled through it, and with just a few minutes exposure, they were cured of the memory-plague. In the meantime, shipments of food supplies were being dropped in.

The man in blue held the hand of a little girl as they walked toward the house together. It was a simple house, two stories tall, painted white. The yard was somewhat overgrown, and the red sedan sitting out front had a few scratches and dings on it, but it still looked to be in good condition.

She stopped just halfway up the walk, her lip trembling. "I'm afraid. What if they don't want me? I've been away so long..." She trembled a little, her eyes looking up at him with fear.

Slowly, carefully, the man knelt down, to look her in the eye. He smiled gently. "What do the numbers tell you?"

Dinah shook her head, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I don't know. I'm afraid to ask."

He looked a little amused, but his voice was gentle, filled with sympathy. "Years ago, I lost a good friend. Someone very bad hurt him, and I struggled very, very hard to find a way to save him. I couldn't do it in time, though, and he died." He tapped the gold armoring on the front of his outfit. "These are his colors, and all I can hope to do is be as good an example as he was. He was a good man, and my best friend. He was a much better person than I was. Better than I could ever be." He looked a little rueful. "I'd give anything to have him back. I'd have given up my powers, given up my right arm...given up my life to have him back." He nodded at the door. "I don't need powers to know they'd give anything to have you back. I'll be right by your side."

She nodded slowly. Together, they walked to the door and he knocked. After a moment of silence, he knocked again.

The sounds of someone muttering, and a thump against a wall, managed to come through the door. Then it swung open, revealing a thirty-something blonde, her face nearly sunken in with grief.

"Can I help...you?" Her eyes widened as she took in first the cape standing at her front door, then the timid Dinah standing at his side. "D-Dinah!? What...but you're...how?"

She looked unsteady on her feet, so the man gently took her shoulder. "Easy there, Missus Alcott. There's a lot to talk about. May we come in?"

She looked back and forth uncertainly, then she looked down into her daughter's frightened, but hopeful, eyes.

With a cry, Laura Alcott dropped to her knees and hugged her daughter.

* * *

 _June 1st, 2011_

Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown looked in the mirror. Carefully, she swabbed with the makeup, just enough to accentuate certain features, conceal a few others. With some care, she marked a few lines, hair-thin, just enough to be noticeable, not enough to look fake.

Keeping up the appearance of aging wasn't exactly easy. She looked only a little older today as she did when she took the vial that turned her into Alexandria. From eighteen, her aging slowing until she was perpetually twenty-five, albeit a tall, muscular and well-developed one. Her genes had been good there.

At least until they gave her the cancer that nearly killed her.

As such, she had to give herself small, slight signs of aging to pass for the forty-five years old she should be. Something that had concerned her, once, was that she might outlive everyone she knew. Everyone she ever cared about.

The Endbringers took care of the latter. There weren't very many people she cared about left. Clark was dead. Nathan was a friend, but he was...innocent. Trusting, _good,_ in a way that she never had been. And David...

David had been more and more withdrawn, always trying _so hard_ to prepare for the next Endbringer battle. To save as many people as possible for the coming trial. To give them the best chance to save _something_ of humanity from the masquerading monster pretending to be a god. David never _liked_ the hard choices they made, but had seen its necessity, eventually.

So many things done in the name of that ultimate goal. So many terrible choices made. Six months ago, and she wouldn't have had a second thought about doing more of them to buy as much of a chance as possible.

And then the Simurgh died. Dragon...changed, in some way they hadn't been able to figure out. To the view of most, Dragon was the world's greatest Tinker, ever since Clark...Hero, had died. Alexandria knew she was an AI, but had been left to act. AI or not, Dragon had been a stabilizing force, worth a _hundred_ powerful capes on her own. The Birdcage, the Simurgh quarantine zones, and a hundred other smaller things.

And now they couldn't predict her actions. At least, not directly. The best part though, was that their best predictions on the number of people saved from the coming apocalypse was quadrupled. From ninety percent of inhabited Earths destroyed to sixty percent.

A similar shift had occurred when Taylor Hebert climbed out of her grave, though smaller at first. From ninety-eight percent destroyed, then the numbers began to tick downward over the course of April, Contessa's Path to Victory altering in ways that weren't obvious, but difficult to deal with. What did smoothing out the business legislation in the United Kingdom have to do with a new cape in Brockton Bay?

And now, after she had summoned the castle from that pocket dimension? Fifty-five percent.

There, slight touch of lining around the eyes. It was difficult to get it just right.

Rebecca slipped the glass eye into its place, blinking a couple of times, making sure it moved just as it should.

A familiar voice interrupted her musings. "You know, I keep saying you should add a few more gray hairs. I know it's not something you'd like to add, but it'd help sell the illusion a bit more."

She whirled around to see a man in blue and gold in her hallway, just outside her bathroom door. She clenched her teeth, the heated anger dying as she realized who it was.

"David! Where the hell have you been!? We've been looking everywhere for you."

 _Alexandria growled. "Where the hell has he gone? We can't find him_ _ **anywhere?**_ _I thought we were able to see everything."_

 _Contessa frowned as she looked back at Alexandria. "I've always had trouble with Eidolon. Something about his power makes me blind to him without extensive modeling. Just the same with Scion, the Endbringers, and now both Dragon and Scarlet Knight. We know Eidolon. If he wants to find a way to be impossible to find, he will be impossible to find. But our chances have been improving. Scarlet's resources_ _ **alone**_ _are giving us a possible way to escape out of Scion's grasp."_

 _With a furrowed brow, she couldn't help but ask. "Where? There isn't anywhere we can go that he can't find us."_

 _Contessa simply smiled. "I've looked into some older projects. Gramme's old work."_

 _Gramme?_

 _Alan Gramme? As in_ _ **Mannequin?**_

 _Doctor Mother was looking positive for the first time since Alexandria could ever remember. "We're building an ark. We suspect Scion's bound relatively closely with his true body. His projection probably can't leave the solar system, and with the Simurgh gone..."_

Eidolo..no, David looked at her with faint humor in his eyes. "I was outside the Clairvoyant's reach for a bit. I found something, Becca. We've got a problem, and I've been working on a solution."

Outside the _Clairvoyant's reach?_ That particular asset of Cauldron's was aware of _everything_ within every Earth's atmosphere, where could David have gone...

His next words chilled Rebecca's blood. "There's seventeen more Endbringers, Becca. I've been doing what I can to make sure they don't become a problem."

Rebecca's mouth dropped open, then she clenched and unclenched her fists. "What. The hell. Are you talking about?"

David sighed, gesturing for her to come down the hall. She followed him, anger and _worry_ warring within her. Only her vaunted self-control, that she prided herself on, kept her from launching into a verbal assault.

Looking exhausted, he took a seat on her couch. Rebecca settled in a chair opposite, letting out a breath full of stress. All this time worrying about where the hell he was and...

His voice was quiet. "They're here because of me, Becca. My power...it's not mine. It's _theirs._ I've been using the Endbringer's powers, I always have been. Right from the beginning." He tapped the side of his head. "The powers I tapped into kept running dry because I was draining the agents connected to them. It takes time, _years_ really, for them to recharge them. But each one is connected to hundreds. _Wrenching_ their power from them was where I'd been going wrong. I was commanding them, subconsciously. They killed all those people because _I needed a challenge._ "

If that was true...

Rebecca took a deep breath, her Thinker power working through the implications quickly. "David...if you can control them...could we use them?"

He shook his head. "Not Ifrit. Not Lotan. They're going to come up again. Apparently it's a lot easier to _give_ them orders than to change them." He grimaced. "Sorry. Behemoth and Leviathan. Ifrit is Behemoth's real name. He's...also big on vengeance. I can use their powers, but the bindings on them are strong. We can kill them. Break their bindings, break the bindings on the others before they awaken. And they _want_ to help us win. They hate this situation even more than we do."

She swallowed. "What do you need, David?"

David smiled slightly. "I need to come back to Cauldron. I need a formula mixed up. A very specific formula."

Rebecca nodded, a slight smile rising on her lips. "Let me cancel my appointments and get properly dressed."

He chuckled.

A few minutes later, she returned to the living room, dressed in her costume. They shared a nod, and she spoke. "Door me."

Doormaker's familiar portal opened, and they looked at it together. The passage to their headquarters, their hidden base. The only chance they had at saving humanity.

Rebecca looked David over and spoke. "Nice suit, Eidolon. Hero's colors?"

He nodded. "Trying to change. Trying to do better. Trying to honor him. Trying...a lot of things. I remembered one of the last conversations we had before Behemoth first appeared. Back when we were...well, a lot younger." He looked down at his hands. "I never got into this for the right reasons. It was all about being the best, for me, that saving the world was my destiny. Hero liked to be the best Tinker, but it wasn't what he focused on. It was all about what he could do with it. Eidolon...that name's tied up with a lot of bad things for me now, Becca. I never should have been like that. Clark inspired people. Eidolon didn't, he couldn't. As Apostle...maybe I can. I have the power. It's time to use it responsibly." He smiled slightly. "As Clark said to me once, 'You don't have to be perfect to be Superman.'"

She shook her head. "Didn't think you'd rebrand."

David shrugged. "I needed a wakeup call. I got one. I get you're going to do your best to contain me in there, too." He nodded to the portal.

Rebecca blinked, then frowned. "What?"

He just looked at her, and she sighed. "Fine. Yes. What _happened_ with the Simurgh?" Rebecca spoke with annoyance.

"It's a long story. I don't have all of it, either. But the Endbringers? _They_ call Scion, and his species, Abominations..."

He kept talking as they strode into the portal together.


	70. Interlude: Scion

A/N: Give me time. I'll get this done.

* * *

The Entity hovered over the destroyed rubble.

One of the weapons its counterpart had found fell here. Died here. It was plain to see the damage in the present, the collapsed buildings, the carnage that was being cleaned by the little beings below. Some looked up at it, pointing, awed, excited, just as the Entity's form was designed to inspire.

A central place had been cleared. A spot in the middle of the battle site, where the non-hosts were placing a foundation in at that point. In an intact cycle, most of those below would have Shards connected to their descendants, within two hundred revolutions of this world around its host star.

That, however, was in a future that could never be, now.

The cycle was broken. The data the Shards gathered from their hosts was fascinating, useful, especially when the hosts would fight against the unleashed weapons. But it was all for nothing. Alone, the Entity could not refine the Shards into an interstellar-surviving form. Alone, it could not gather and channel sufficient energy to lift its true body from the planet's gravity well. Some of its Shards could achieve the feat on their own, but not all of them.

Alone, the Entity did not even have the means to call for the others. It was trapped by the actions of its past, trapped because _something_ had happened to the Thinker. The lack of communication Shards ensured that even the slowest means of light-speed communications were beyond it. The Entity did not possess the strength to look far enough into the possible futures to know if another Entity would arrive here. The attempt to look in itself would change that possible future, simply because the energy used would be taxing. If the Entity looked far enough into the future to know with certainty another Entity would arrive, the act might take enough of its life away that it would die before the arrival.

Better to live with an uncertain chance, however small, than to shrink those chances and get certain death.

Looking into the past, however, was much simpler. Much less power-intensive. There are uncountable possible futures, moreso within the near-infinity of the multidimensional versions of each world, but the number of possible pasts in any given dimension was one. It still took energy, but the Entity was not looking back very far, and being in place over the battle site made the expenditure minimal. A mere three rotations of this planet's worth of the Entity's remaining lifespan burned away, while it had thousands of revolutions around the star.

The battle unfolded before the Entity's gaze. The weapon attacking without defending. Shard-hosts attempting to attack it, to drive it away. The varied uses of the powers granted to the hosts were fascinating. A pity the data would simply be lost in the most likely futures.

The Entity stopped its searching as something new appeared. It had similarities to powers granted by certain Shards, powers that permitted various methods of opening the paths between dimensions. But this portal did not connect to another dimension at all. There was no world, no universe, on the other side of it. It _seemed_ to connect to nothing. Yet three beings emerged. Non-hosts.

Under ordinary circumstances, the Entity would have dismissed them out of hand. It was not the first time non-hosts used abilities granted by Shards, usually by the actions of a technology-emulation Shard, but the red one had the sense of a _severed_ Shard-host. A connection had been formed, then _broken._

That should not be possible. Death occurred to those whose Shard connection was severed. It was one of the failsafes built into the Shards, it made it much simpler to harvest the Shards at the end of a cycle.

It took a little bit of searching. The Shard had come from the Thinker, her Queen Administrator Shard. It connected with a non-host, found a more suitable host in the offspring of the original, and then...

 _Agony. Laughter. Hatred and rage. Fire and ice. The vindictive will of a being that would destroy itself as long as the enemy was taken with it. A small mind, a tiny mind, but one sharpened and honed to lethality._

Connection severed. Shard damaged. The damage was minor, but it was enough to force it to make an imperfect connection elsewhere.

But the attempted host died, as a severed Shard-connection should do to a host. And then the failed host reawakened some ninety rotations later. While there were Shards that could have replicated the feat, there was no Shard here to repair the biomass of the host, no means of saving the brain-state of the host, no reason at all the non-host should revive. And yet it did. It should have, by all rights, been as self-aware as the tiniest lifeforms upon any life-bearing world, but it seemed to be just as the other non-hosts were. Aware, capable, active, and thinking.

There was something odd about the non-host, beyond the obvious. Some energy that poured into it, similar to how a Shard-host tapped into a Shard, but different in some fundamental way. Where was that power coming from? And why was it familiar?

The weapons. The weapons had the same energy, nearly swamped by the Shards bound to them, but that was it. Was this one a larval weapon? Did they reproduce, and the Thinker never knew, because they had been unable to exchange information properly with the lone Entity?

It burned more energy to seek out the path the Entity and the Thinker had taken to reach this world, casting its mind back through the past. This burned off more of its life, but there was something important here, and the Entity _had_ to know.

The pair of Entities passed through the great void between galaxies. They passed by phenomena that would be of concern for most beings, shifting their Shards between the dimensions to avoid the possible hazards. The husks of collapsed stars, from which even light could not escape, having been ejected during the violence of galactic formation, long before the Entities had evolved from the simplest life-forms on their now-destroyed homeworld.

They avoided the constructs, artificial lifeforms that had seeded themselves within the darkness, away from the light of the galaxies, safe and secure in their hibernation. Some were travelling outward, seeking out the nearest galaxies from this one. They had the slightest traces of another Entity, another strategy, another cycle. There were many ways of gathering data, and this was one. There were many others. The Warrior and the Thinker had their strategy, honed and worked upon for eons. There was the Singer, who bonded in symbiosis with lifeforms around a long-lived red dwarf. Breaker, who created increasingly terrible stress on a world, pushing the lifeforms to evolve or die.

Then this one, Wanderer. It seeded powers, as the Warrior and Thinker did, but it was interested most in the barriers the Entities had evolved to break through instinctively, naturally. It sought ways to find more possibilities. Perhaps it succeeded.

There. The memory of the dead Entity the pair came across on their way to this world. Wanderer had been travelling in the opposite direction, as if it had just _come_ from this world, yet it had not. The Warrior and the Thinker had been attracted by its attempts to communicate, by its desire to share shards, some kind of critical information that might be useful for the ultimate goal. To find a method to survive and thrive even when all the matter of the multiverse had been consumed. It was stating it had a key point, not a solution in itself, but a possibility that might be expanded upon.

And then Wanderer screamed as it died. Most of its Shards died, shredded to the point of uselessness, the few that remained were harvested by the Thinker to extract what data that managed to survive the Entity's death. It was not the first time an Entity had been killed, even within the depths of space. But that usually only occurred at the actions of other Entities, and very, very rarely at the actions of non-hosts with sufficient understanding to fight back effectively. Most of those non-host species were eliminated for being a threat.

Others, even the Entities dared not cross again. Too much damage done, too many of their kind lost, too much _useful data destroyed._ It was not worth the risk.

What had killed the Wanderer? The Entity and its counterpart had been too distant to observe the Wanderer's end as it occurred, only the aftermath. It was as if it had been attacked by another Entity, not out of the desire to harvest or steal Shards, but out of...

The Entity did not know what. There was no concept within the Entity's mind. They were driven by _need_ and need alone. The drives that motivated the non-hosts upon this world were alien to the Entity. The Shards that emulated an understanding were imperfect, feeding the Entity a single state since the Entity's arrival. Lethargy. Various non-hosts and Shard-hosts had a concept, however. Vindictiveness. Rage. Destruction for the sake of emotion.

Vengeance.

The Entity would wait. The weapons would return again, as they always did. The Entity would observe the strange non-host when it came against the weapons again. It would attempt to see what the relationship was between the weapons and the strange non-host.

The Entity's mind returned to the present. Almost without thought, out of habit, ingrained in it from the years of its work with Kevin Norton's directives, the Entity cast out its manipulated wavelengths to heal and cure the non-hosts below. As always, they looked upon the Entity with gratitude, with joy, with worship.

As always, it felt nothing.


	71. Interlude: PHO, Paladin

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 **Topic: Slaughterhouse None!  
In: Boards ► General ► North America ► Villains**

 **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know)  
Posted on May 31, 2011:

I'm sure you all know what happened. We all saw the video that got leaked, at least for the last bit. Here's what's being released by the PRT, which is helpful, because we're all hungry for details.

At 9:07 pm Eastern time, May 26th, the Protectorate ENE received information that the Slaughterhouse Nine may have been targeting Scarlet Dragon. Yes, she-who-turned-into-a-dragon and dropped the Simurgh. (With an assist!) Scarlet Dragon was asked to come in and consult, and she agreed, apparently having been planning on taking the evening to arrange a few things to bring to that huge-ass Castle of hers.

Unfortunately, the S9 is very good about going to ground, and it's not exactly easy to track them down. Scarlet Dragon, however, cooperated with Protectorate forces in finding where the S9 were operating from, using classified means. At 11:02, the Protectorate and the PRT launched an attack on where the group were hiding in the Brockton Bay Docks. The S9 were prepared, however, and were spread out already. It came to light later that the S9 made a number of decoys out of...well, whomever they could get their hands on. Mostly Merchants, but a few other people too. The attack was successful in killing Shatterbird, by Scarlet Dragon's hands. Unfortunately, before the killing blow was struck, Shatterbird managed to use her power and destroy the glass for nearly half the city. Thankfully, due to warnings that the S9 was in town, there were fewer victims than there could have been, and several neighborhoods were evacuated before the attack.

However, when the attack was launched, Crawler attacked the PRT building and targeted the Brockton Bay Wards. He managed to cause seven casualties and sixty-three injuries to PRT personnel, before Dragon engaged him and they both disappeared by teleportation. While reinforcements were coming in to aid, Mannequin began spreading a biological agent throughout the city. Our newest Ward, Paladin, engaged and managed to distract Mannequin long enough for Velocity to defeat him, before he could kill anyone directly. (Youth Guard's going to be pissed.)

SD arrived to help extract the injured Wards and the civilians nearby, using a city bus, along with Glory Girl of New Wave and some of her own entourage. (See 'Pale Man' and 'Bat-Model' here. No names yet for them, sorry folks. Also, 'Pale Man' is still, apparently, U&L's King of the Internet.) SD took her dragon form. (Pics here. Goddamn.)

Siberian engaged, apparently doing enough damage to knock her out of the dragon shape. The pair fought to an apparent stalemate. Bat-Model engaged, and Siberian removed her arms. SD pulled her back while Pale Man engaged, then SD re-engaged the Siberian while Armsmaster extracted the bus full of civilians. The two were stalemated again, and the Siberian broke off. The biological agent managed to spread throughout the downtown area by this time, apparently having been set off by a number of bombs.

SD then used classified intelligence to track down Bonesaw, reasoning that she may have an antidote for the prion plague. The antidote was secured, but apparently Bonesaw attempted to activate a failsafe to destroy it, resulting in her death by the PRT. SD spread the antidote after extensive testing.

The Siberian arrived to attempt to extract Bonesaw, but using means provided right by Bonesaw's own notes, the Siberian's weakness was discovered and she was executed with extreme prejudice. (Details are still very classified here, folks. Sorry.)

Hatchet Face attempted to kill the Wards within the Endbringer shelter, managing to kill Alanna Gonzales, and severely injuring Kid Win. He was killed before further damage could be done by Pale Man. (We need his cape name. Like, fast.) There were further deaths inside by a Master inside the shelter, apparently by a recent trigger, but they were beaten before things could get much worse.

SD allowed emergency personnel to reach the the shelter before she took her entourage, and Glory Girl, to hit the last two, Burnscar and Jack Slash. Apparently...and this is where Jack's video comes in. I can't link it here, (Seriously Jack, what the fuck!? I know you were a serial killer, but goddamn.) but it's out there in the net already. End result of that convo? Well, Jack somehow got impaled on a lamppost about a block away. You can't see it happening, but Burnscar got killed offscreen, too.

So, that's all of them. They're dead. All of them. Gone.

 **(Showing Page 1 of 168)**  
 **► FrenchWolf**  
Replied on May 31, 2011:

I for one, will willingly become a supplicant for our Hell Lady. She has done much. So much in ridding the scum.

I am the last of the Frans, when the S9 went on their town killing sprees. I was spared because I was at New York attending uni.

Scarlet Dragon, is there any way I can serve you?

 **► Kriiahjun**  
Replied on May 31, 2011:

It's Conspiracy Man! Aliens are sucking our brains out to power their war machines, To conquer us all! The end is Nigh, THE END IS NIGH!

 **► Red Cube**  
Replied on June 1, 2011:

And again, PHO shows its true face: Conspiracy nuts and people hellbent on turning their country into a Parahuman dictatorship. Yay. We're only missing the shippers...  
Also, if you really want to serve her, see whether she's willing to accept immigrants. Hey, are there any treaties yet? (... should we open a new thread for that question? Is there one?)

A bit more on topic, Scarlet Dragon - you're really, truly, absolutely awesome, and not just because you're a Dragon and red, which would both instantly qualify.  
(I do not have an obsession with that colour. At all.)

Any chance you're willing to take a vacation in Europe and see what you can do about the Blasphemies? We could really use some help there...

 **► TwentyNanometers**  
Replied on June 1, 2011:

Anyone knows what the hell Bonesaw did to us? My mom nearly kicked me out of the house because she thought I was an impostor, and vice-versa. WTF.

 **► LT Jenson** (Verified PRT Agent)  
Replied on June 1, 2011:

TwentyNanometers, Bonesaw's victims are being asked to report to the nearest hospital or clinic to your location. There are a number of people who are stuck with the features of the S9 members, at least before they changed their own faces, but they're being tended to.

So far, the tally is three Siberians, seven Bonesaws, four Shatterbirds, two Hatchet Faces, eight Jacks, and a Burnscar. Six Mannequins have been found, but...at the moment, we're not sure what we can do for them, though we are working on the problem.

Further information for what victims can do is here. I hope you and your mom will be alright.

 **► LeaderOfMen13**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Anyone else getting nervous here? Between killing Simurgh and wiping out the S9, does Scarlett Dragon have any limit? Can anything stop her?

And what will happen if she goes nuts or villain?

I mean are we just trading in a legion of monsters for a God-Monster?

 **► GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Some of us are but I think most people (with me included) have just decided to trow their hands in the air and called quit in this whole thing. I mean seriously, the kind of bullshit that seems so follow that girl is legendary at this point.

Next thing you know good and old Fairy Queen will be appearing in her door wishing to have a tea party with the new queen in the block.

Or Scion appears wishing to date who seems to be the strongest parahuman around.

 **► Raziel**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Oh but don't you understand? With the demise of Jack, the greatest symbol of resistance against our capitalist pig overlords has fallen, and so we are all doomed to decay into a thoughtless monoculture Marx warned us about, let us sing a dirge to the last hero of the last hope of socialism;

Jack is dead and we wanna celebrate it  
Pushed up daises, former and belated  
Some guy asked why we're elated  
Well Jack is dead

(follow the bouncing fang!)

Yes Jack's kaput  
No longer operatin'  
Retired, expired  
Quite an emancipation!  
Released, deceased  
Gone bust, he's dust  
Lift up our shorts  
Do a pelvic thrust (uh!)  
Jack is dead!

He was vicious and obscene  
And not a little mean  
So we're singing quite a chord  
Now that he's gone to his reward! (fwoosh)

Jack is dead, he's history  
Why we shake booty's no mystery  
He's gone at last, his time has past  
Now we can go back to passing gas!

(urp, urp, urp, urp, urp. Pfft.)

Yeah Jack  
Is  
Deeeeead!

 **(Have an infraction on me. While I appreciate the song lyrics, you forgot that he killed lots of people. He was no hero to anyone. Post will remian as evidence of what not to do. This board does not discriminate between heroes or villains, but we do have problems with psychopaths.) -Tin_Mother**

 **► GraveDigger**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

So, the Slaughterhouse None (hah!) are dead. That fucking flying smurf is dead. And there's a gigantic fucking flying island on BB's doorstep.

...Is BB accepting immigrants? Is SD's -island- accepting immigrants? I got skills! I can be useful! SD, please, you're so much better than New Orleans' Protectorate! We're led by a guy named -Jazzhands-, for fuck's sake!

 **► Jazzhands** (Verified Cape) (New Orleans Protectorate)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Something wrong with my name?

 **► GraveDigger**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Oh. Crap! *hides*

 **► Jazzhands** (Verified Cape) (New Orleans Protectorate)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Gets him every time. I love my job.

 **► BookWorm**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Well it's nice to see the SH9 gone for good I'm praying that things will slow down.

Just a few month ago this city was filled with gangs in a cold-war poking each other too see who comes out on top. Then enough bombs and guerilla warfare in the streets to take over a small nation (with confirmed deaths in the 3 digits). Now I'm not going to be a downer but seeing the mess in the Marquis era a blow-up of violence after so many years is not surprising, very depressing and horrible for everyone who suffered but not surprising (which is saying things about our city, nation and world).

Now things began to recover, despite all the destruction things began to look up. Simurgh dead and the Magical Dragon in our city keeping the remaining villains subdued (ABB gone, E88 doing nothing too blatantly stupid, Merchants as irrelevant as ever and unless I'm missing something Coil has either gone deep underground or has left the city).

Then Bonesaw and Mannequin. For those who have no clue what happened here I shall elaborate: Brockton Bay is supposed to have around 300.000 citizens (number uncertain because of crime, homeless people and a substantial Asian immigrant population because you don't say no to a dragon). All those people couldn't connect memories of anyone to the person in front of them. Which is a problem with small still requiring aid children, headstrong teenagers, hospitals with all sorts of patients, much too many gangs with access to weapons and the unstable persons who went for violence very quick very fast.

Needless to say Brockton Bay is going to import psychiatrists in massive quantities.

Don't get me confused I'm still going to celebrate the new and improved Slaughterhouse Zero but some down time is what everyone could use around here.

 **► MadGreenSon** (Veteran Member) (Verified Yozi)  
Replied On June 2, 2011:

Holy shit... The age of the ridiculously powerful capes has arrived. There have been a fuckton of extremely powerful capes popping up this year, plus whateverthehell got into Dragon.

I mean damn, is there something in the water in BB? Or is this just parahumans in general levelling up?

Between what happened to the Nine, Dragon, Scarlet Dragon + Entourage...

Either way, I hope Jack and his groupies all burn in hell forever and that this is a sign of better things to come.

Somehow though, I think we haven't seen the worst yet...

 **► FangLord**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

I still think giving Jack the Vlad the Impaler treatment wasn't enough.

 **► LazyDude**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

I'm worried that she did. I mean, holy hell. Look, I saw the video. wished I hadn't seen it, but I saw it. I'm not surprised he ended up on a spike after that. If anyone deserves it, Jack did. But most people would have just killed him right then. SD took the time to rip a lamppost out of the ground, turn it into a spike, and use it on Jack. Now, I'm not saying Jack didn't deserve it. But it worries me that she's so nice most of the time, but apparently impales people who piss her off. Doing...uh, that, in her face, yeah I know most people would snap too, but where's her line? Does it take something that extreme for her to get mad, or is she just able to hide the crazy behind closed doors?

Before this, I'd have liked to move to that island of hers. Now? I wonder if I said the wrong thing there, I'd end up like Jack? Is she a dictator who just happened to have good publicity until this point? I hope I'm wrong, but I gotta say it. She scares me. Killing's easy, and it would be even easier with power like hers. But she got creative, and...

Yeah. I'm worried. Hopefully she'll respect the conventions and such. Someone's got to reign her in, and hopefully without leveling a city or three. I'm worried that everything up to this point was just her preparing to just outright conquer Brockton Bay, turn it into a beachhead, then keep going. Why else would she scout for a month before hitting the Simurgh?

Someone help me here?

 **► DarkLurker**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

It's a concern, and I get it. The thing that reassures me though, is that petty villains don't tend to head off to the other side of the continent to fight an Endbringer. Sure, they'll work to defend their turf, but they don't usually go very far. Villainous Thinkers have to be given incentive. BB's group of villains are weird there, actually. E88's a weird counterexample, but then again, they're not just trying to hold one city. They're trying to gain legitimacy everywhere, and being seen fighting Endbringers makes it a lot more difficult for politicians and heroes to try and justify breaking them completely between Endbringer attacks. There's a reason Kaiser's E88's less harried and seen as more noble than Allfather's. They're still a bunch of neo-Nazi's, but long as the Endbringers are around, they're more valuable alive than dead or Birdcaged.

Much as I hate the fascist pricks.

Anyway, my thinking is a lot of things could go either way. If SD's homeworld really had so much experience fighting Endbringers, one of the things she could have done was just help drive it off with lower casualties, and spread her influence by using them. You know, let SD rule you, and she'll protect you from them. Instead, Dragon and SD killed the Simurgh. We're not quite sure which one was most important for the final hit, but turning into a motherfucking DRAGON and hitting the Pale Bitch certainly didn't hurt. For an aspiring villain with good publicity, it helps to have a bigger threat out there that everyone can agree on. Just killing them outright gives her an immediate PR boost, but that gratitude would fade after a while. A long while maybe, but it'd happen.

 **► TrollBridge**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

The whole 'What have you done for me lately?' Thing, huh?

 **► GiantKing**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

First of all, I think we're straying off-topic a bit here. That being said, SD's related to the end of the damn murderhobos, so I'll contribute a bit before we try and get things back on topic.

All I can suggest is some things that's pretty commonly known. First of all, lots of parahumans out there are a bit screwed in the head. Take Accord, brilliant villain. He could probably rule half the NA continent if he wasn't so notoriously difficult to work for or with. Quite a few villains in the Boston area 'disappear' if they get on his bad side. Or for a more heroic example, take Myrddin. Dude thinks he's a wizard. Who knows, maybe he really is. Point is, powers screw with some people. Maybe SD's thing is that when something really bad happens, she goes feral. Or just plain mean.

Secondly, she's from another world. By the design of that castle of hers on that floating island (and THAT still freaks me out) it's from a waaay less technologically savvy place. Unless their version of New York got stomped down by Cthulu or whatever. Even the nicest medieval peasant wouldn't have much of a problem taking the kids out to a hanging for the evening's entertainment. When we have to kill, we do it fast and as painless as possible, or you're just a fucking asshole. But even just fifty years ago, people didn't care about fast or painless so much. Just they were dead and that justice was seen to be done.

Don't get me wrong. What she did to Jack scares me too. But I'm going to get really scared only if she starts doing it to people who aren't complete psychos.

 **► CrimsonGriffin**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Zizz gone, the Nine dead. I'm starting to feel like I should start praying.

Question is to who?

PS crosses fingers for behemoth and leviathan to.

 **► Glitchrr36** (Cape Groupie) (Verified Commander)  
Replied On June 3 2011:

Goddamn, glad I'm not in BB right now if half the shit the nine are rumored to have done there is correct:  
Forced plastic surgery for doppelgangers  
the memory fog  
Shatterbirding as usual  
trying to turn Scarlet Dragon

 **►MadGreenSon** (Veteran Member) (Verified Yozi)  
Replied On June 3 2011:

Goddamn, glad I'm not in BB right now if half the shit the nine are rumored to have done there is correct:  
Forced plastic surgery for doppelgangers  
the memory fog  
Shatterbirding as usual  
trying to turn Scarlet Dragon

I know right? I too am blessed to have never been in the path of the S9 and I'm damn glad of it. the Bay sure as hell looks to be a town where they went all out.  
Still, repulsively creative or not, it was their dying whimper. I'll be raising a few more toasts to the end of the Nine before I pass out tonight, guaranteed.

 **► IonizedParticle**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

So, the group formerly known as the Slaughterhouse Nine are dead after attacking one of the capes responsible for killing an Endbringer. Does this mean they're applicable for the Darwin Awards?

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **166** **,** **167** **,** **168**

■  
 **Topic: Biological concerns in Brockton Bay  
In: Boards ► General ► North America ► Current Events**

 **Sergeant Tombstone** (Original Poster) (Verified PRT Agent)  
Posted on May 29, 2011:

We finally have details on the plague that Bonesaw released. Here is what you need to know:

1\. The plague is a prion infection, the same kind of infection that's responsible for Mad Cow disease. However, the speed of its effects is much, much faster than the onset of natural prion infections. It is airborne and highly virulent, and is capable of using any living thing to self-replicate and spread. According to physicians, it was designed to cause brain damage rapidly,

2\. We have an antidote, and it was spread into the atmosphere to destroy the prion cloud and halt the replication of the disease in infected hosts. The antidote does NOT heal the damage done by the disease, however. If you were infected, and now have been exposed to the antidote, you won't die from the plague, but you won't be able to recognize anyone else until you are actually healed. Brain injuries are nothing to laugh at, but we are even luckier than we otherwise would have been.

3\. We have the means to heal the damage. Treatment centers have sprung up all over the city, and you can find your way to one on this map.  
Due to Bonesaw's activities, and the red cloud that was released and is now being dissipated, Brockton Bay is currently under quarantine. Thankfully, the PRT does have a cure, thanks to Paladin, and Dragon has used the principles behind her equipment to make treatment centers. The antidote that was spread afterward is capable of halting the damage done by the plague. Testing is also being done on the means we have to heal the damage for other ailments. Results are promising so far.

If you or your loved ones are currently infected, please, for the sake of your health and the health of others, report to one of the treatment centers on this map.

 **(Showing Page 1 of 1)**

 **► firebird89**  
Replied on May 30, 2011:

Does anyone know what happened with that cloud-plague thing Bonesaw released? They say they used an antidote made by her, but that seems...well, weird. Why would she make an antidote? Something's iffy here.

This is Brockton Bay, so I'd assume Panacea did it somehow, but she's...well, gone.  
Next guess would be Eidolon, but he wasn't involved.  
After that I'd guess Dragon, but she vanished for a while after downing Crawler. Actually, what happened to Crawler? He just vanish?

 **► IonizedParticle**  
Replied on May 30, 2011:

I live near Brockton Bay. When I saw that Red Cloud on the horizon, I packed my bags and went on a road trip west. Right now I'm currently in western Pennsylvania. What I'm wondering is if it's safe to return home or should I keep moving west?

 **►Glitchrr36** (Cape Groupie) (Verified Commander)  
Replied On May 30th 2011:

IonizedParticle I'd find a hotel room and stay there until you get an all clear.

 **►MadGreenSon** (Veteran Member) (Verified Yozi)  
Replied On May 30th 2011:

I live near Brockton Bay. When I saw that Red Cloud on the horizon, I packed  
my bags and went on a road trip west. Right now I'm currently in western  
Pennsylvania. What I'm wondering is if it's safe to return home or should I  
keep moving west?

Gonna have to concur with Glitchrr36 here, bunker up and wait for an all clear.  
As crazy as that town's been, you might want to wait longer to feel out the situation and decide if you want to go back at all.

 **►Sergeant Tombstone** (Verified PRT Agent)  
Replied on June 1st, 2011:

At the moment, the city is under quarantine by the PRT, Protectorate, and the US Army in conjunction with the WHO. While we believe that the danger from Bonesaw's plague has been neutralized, things are still on lockdown. Nobody enters the city and nobody leaves until the quarantine ends. That being said, contact within the city is mostly intact, though the downtown section was badly hit by Shatterbird. Volunteers are working to open and maintain lines of communication, and it is expected that the quarantine will drop within a month if things remain somewhat calm.

As questions have been asked in other threads, yes, Scarlet Dragon is among those both within the quarantine and respecting it. While she is not a member of the Protectorate or the nation, she's been quite cooperative about things here.

 **►CaptainBlondBeard** (Not a real Space Pirate)  
Replied on June 1st, 2011:

Well, as long as she's a cuddly demon-girl. Speaking of which, here's a bunch of surprisingly cuddly critters! Enjoy the video!

 **►IncuriousGeorge**  
Replied on June 1st, 2011:

BlondBeard, get back to work, and quit messing around on PHO when you should be in the greenhouse.

 **►UniversallyBored**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Someone's in trouble.  
Anyway, glad to know things are somewhat stable. BB's been hit by a lot lately. Anything to worry about yet?

 **► DeepAncientOne**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

I couldn't make to shelters in time, so got caught in that damn red fog. After that it was just impossible to navigate because I couldn't see shit. I was lucky to not meet any of these phycsopaths, so I just waited until everything was over... It was over when Dauntless, who I was unable to reconise at the moment, found me and gave some kind of shiny trinket that in some bullshit way cired this damn illnes! I heard this trinkets were made by our own Ward Paladin, so thanks you very much girl! It thanks to you that I could reconise and kiss my wife!

And while I was outthere I clearly remember the moment when the red fog began to disappear, remplaced by something blue, which dispersed afterwards... So appears that red killer tinker bullshit fog was beaten back by another tinker bullshit fog, no killer this time!

So I would say it's really possible that Bonesaw undone her own work! I can think any other explanation, that a loving, hypnotic stare...

 **End of Page. 1**

 **Topic: Scarlet Dragon's thread, the fifth  
In: Boards ► Global ► Trumps**

 **ScarletFan** (Original Poster) (Cape Groupie)  
Posted on June 2, 2011:

Okay, since the LAST thread got hijacked by weirdos, wackos, and a bunch of the Fallen (but I repeat myself) we're here to combine everything we have on our favorite badass.

Ever since she showed up, things have gotten pretty shaken up in Brockton Bay, and of course, we all know the huge impact she made during the Battle of Vancouver. Rest in Hell, Ziz, we have a goddamn dragon!

So what do we know she can do? What do we know about her? Who's who in her group? And please, no Fallen, no Lung fanboys, and no flames. Well, unless we're discussing HER flames.

 **(Showing Page 1 of 86)**  
 **► SoberIrishman** (Actually Does Exist)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Oh, geez. Not ANOTHER thread on her. The last one self-destructed! Why was there so much damn discussion on whether she can take on everyone in the world? If she can, we'll find out, won't we?

 **► Breadnaught**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Guys, I found footage of the fight between SD and the Siberian. Check it out Here.

Did you fucking see that?! That was more brutal than the Ziz fight. The fucking Siberian just tore her arm off and SD gave zero shits!

 **► GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Shaky cell-phone video is shaky. Still, wow. Damn, wow. Unstoppable Force vs Renewable Object?

 **► TheFerryman**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Damn. She's been active for what, two months? And we have a dead Ziz and Slaughterhouse Zero. Seriously.

The Twin Dragons killed Ziz, and now those damn murderhobos are gone, too.

This, this is what heroes are for. To bring hope. I've got happy tears in my eyes.

Breadnaught said: ↑

Guys, I found footage of the fight between SD and the Siberian. Check it out Here.

Did you fucking see that?! That was more brutal than the Ziz fight. The fucking Siberian just tore her arm off and SD gave zero shits!

Still boggling about it, yeah. I expect it hurt like a bitch, but it sure as hell didn't stop her.

Is there anything she can't do?

 **► Breadnaught**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

TheFerryman said: ↑

Is there anything she can't do?

If I find a power she doesn't have, I'll let you know.

Let's see what we've got so far~  
Brute rating: Super Strength and toughness.  
Mover rating: Teleport and fly. Also really fast.  
(Possible) Shaker rating: Didn't she control the weather and make fog a few weeks ago? Other Capes in the fight, might have been one of them.  
Master rating: Can control bats. (Possibly also controlled Bonesaw if speculation is true)  
(Possible) Tinker rating: That robot army she brought out in the Ziz fight. (Might have been made by her people on the floating island)  
Blaster rating: There's a gif of her throwing lightening Here.  
Changer/Shifter rating: Turns into a motherfucking Dragon!

Am I forgetting anything?

Y'know what, I just going to assume she has all the powers until confirmed otherwise.

 **► BardicGodzilla**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

All your powers combined, I am Scarlet Dragon

 **► Quiet_Ninja**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Geez, with all those, she sounds like she stole a few portfolios from the Greek gods. If they went so completely METAL. And she keeps getting more powers, too. And considering she basically willed an island into existence here, I'm...I'm gonna go and build myself a little altar for her, mkay?

Scarlet Dragon, our Lady and Savior. Has a nice ring to it.

 **► GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Why is it that everytime a powerfull parahuman apperas PHO sundelly starts praying for said parahuman as if they were the new coming of God? Seriously guys I get it, she killed an Endbringer and all but must we once more decend into discussing Pantheons. The last time that happened was crazy enough.

 **► Raziel**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Re: GARcher: She killed an Endbringer. And not just any Endbringer, but Lady Mind Rape, then had the Nine Murderhobos for dessert.

I'm more surprised we haven't seen actual cultists on here.

PS: What was the last time? I hang around this board, so I wouldn't know that,

 **► GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Re: Raziel : Last time that happened was around the time GU was free and going around reaping Parahumans, a lot of people at the time were either calling her the goddess of Death or saying that she was actually the Grim Reaper sent to eliminate all Parahumans. It took her being sent to the birdcage and her talk about fairies coming out for people to stop with that talk and there are still some that believe that.

Then again, we now have Dragons going around and beings from other dimension that look like demons in some cases, better stack on some Holy Water just in case.

 **► OnlySaneMan**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Re:GARcher She's an alternate dimensional shape-shifting being that's preferred forms are a demon and a dragon, for all we know she was her universe's version of the Devil.

 **► HavenlyLight**  
Replied on June 2, 2011:

Do you not see? She is, indeed! While paying such a deed to Jack Slash was indeed a just punishment to such a sinner, she is indeed a demon, if not Lucifer himself! She is a beast of darkness, a monster in form and substance, and she MUST be opposed! Do not the scriptures say that the Devil will masquerade as an angel of light? Who knows what kind of monsters she has awaiting her order in that demon-castle of hers? We must act now, before she has charmed the whole world!

We must turn back toward His Instrument, Scion, who has helped all tirelessly, without rest, with no act of kindness too small for his attention. HE is a true angel of the Lord. Let us not be led astray by this demon's masquerade!

 **► OnlySaneMan**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Masquerading? She's not masquerading. What you're talking about is someone who'd look to be a good guy and who isn't. She LOOKS scary, sure, that armor, that helmet, and oh, yeah, big-ass dragon shape's terrifying. But you know what did look nice and turned out not to be? Ziz. Who is dead, thanks to Dragon and SD. SD looks scary as hell when she's riled up, but ever since she showed up, she's been helping people. I mean, she hangs out with New Wave! I will take a scary-looking but helpful supercape from another dimension over a nice-looking but EVIL thing like Ziz EVERY time. Hell, the S9 probably thought like you, that she's faking it or something, and they're dead now!

If she's the Devil, then sign me for her side, because God sure hasn't helped. Not knocking all the good things Scion's done, but he's got no sense of priorities! He just NOW got to Vancouver. Two weeks late for an Endbringer battle! TWO WEEKS!

If he's an angel of the Lord, the Lord should have sent him down with a wristwatch! I can pick one up down the street for 20 bucks!

 **► TheFerryman**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Sane, please don't poke the Christian fundamentalist.

 **► OnlySaneMan**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

But it's so fun...I can't not do it! I also have to point out that, oh, the LAST time we had someone who appeared to be nice in appearance and helpful, we lost the Swiss. ALL THE SWISS. Frankly I'm happy SD's so damn terrifying. Long as she's actually on our side.

 **► HavenlyLight**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

I don't appreciate being needled like this. Why can't you see the truth? She is a a demon, it's plain to see! She has demonic servants, her power is over monsters, and the longer we wait the harder it will be to drive the forces of Hell back into the pit they came from!

 **► Quiet_Ninja**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Well, I'm in favor of waiting until we see just exactly what she brings to the table vs Behemoth and Leviathan. Remember those? The two Endbringers still roaming around? Yeah. If she kills them, or at least gives us the means to kill them, I am going to be very, very happy.

Now quit arguing. I got an altar to build to the Scarlet Dragon. Think she'll want sacrifices of gold? Not sure I can afford it...

 **► Darkflame_Doge**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Oh god, not the sacrifice talk again. We had so much trouble with the creepers from last time...

 **► Red Cube**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

So...I managed to compile a little list of tenets on this Scarletism. Dragonism? Bullshitism? I hope she's not offended...anyone know if she's checking her PHO account? I'd be happy to worship her at this point. Though I'm going to stay on her GOOD side, cause spikes and me don't mix.

1) Dragons are awesome.  
2) Do not annoy dragons.  
3) You are tasty with ketchup.  
4) Go to the church to pray to Scarlet Dragon, or at home, whatever fits for you.  
5) Scarlet and all shades of red are awesome colors.  
6) Vampires are cool. (Couldn't resist the pun. Sorry!)  
7) Drinking blood is not necessary to belong to this church.

 **► Quiet_Ninja**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

Actually, are we sure she's a vampire? I thought that was just a rumor that floated around. Besides, if she is, she's the most bullshit vampire of all. Cause, you know, fought Ziz in broad daylight. At least until the sky got covered by the clouds...that we're pretty sure she summoned. That's cheating the whole sunlight weakness thing, isn't it?

 **► OnlySaneMan**  
Replied on June 3, 2011:

I am not going to complain about vampires possibly hacking the rules if it means dead Endbringers.

 **► Darkflame_Doge**  
Replied on June 4, 2011:

Hear, hear. Though now I'm wondering that if she is a vampire, if we had others here in history, only those ones were the jerks and bigots. While Scarlet's the more sane branch? Maybe that's why her entourage looks so weird. Though 'Bat-Model's' droolworthy...

Anyone hear about her? Having your arms ripped off by the Siberian can't be good. Period.

 **► HoarderOfShinies**  
Replied on June 4, 2011:

Don't be silly. There's no such thing as vampires. Besides, SD was right out in the middle of the day when she turned into a goddamn dragon and bit the Simurgh's face. Any self-respecting vampire would have been a crispy critter, there. Unless we're talking really classical vampires, but those ones have no powers during the day. She's just a really weird parahuman. And, um, awesome, because dragons.

*checks pictures*

Wait a sec. Well, I don't think SD is a vampire, but that pale guy she hangs with...he looks like one. I can see why people might think so. And holy hell, you can grind meat on those abs of his. Where can I sign up for his workout regimen?

Re: Darkflame_Doge

Apparently, she lost a lot of blood, because the hospital's giving her a lot.

...still not vampires, people! No such thing!

 **► HavenlyLight**  
Replied on June 4, 2011:

It is clear to me we are all lost now. The Devil's Daughter has fooled the world. She will lead this world into darkness, and the world will gladly follow her foul plans. She will drink the blood of the innocent, spread her demons among the peoples of the world, turn us all into beasts doing her bidding, until only a few righteous remnants remain. Then Jesus shall use His instrument, cleanse the world of evil, and lead us into Paradise.

I call upon you all, awaken to the evil that's spreading! Awaken and fight back, save your souls! I beg of you, all of you, do not be decieved by this foul demon! Who knows what evil she is planning within that devil's castle of hers?

 **End of Page. 1,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **84** **,** **85** **,** **86**

Madison sighed as she rubbed her eyes. The quarantine was a pain in the ass, and it didn't help that it was the second one she had to endure since the Battle of Vancouver.

Truth be told, she was going a bit stir-crazy. She itched to get out there. While the Bay was contained, some of the gangs were trying to make their moves. Which is to say the Merchants were trying to move, while the Empire pushed back, and the PRT came down on both sides like a ton of hammers. It was unstable, and it couldn't last.

There was a small knock on her door, and she roused herself, turning away from her laptop. "Yes?"

Dennis opened it. He was in his civilian guise, wearing a windbreaker, his curly red hair in disarray. Madison felt a slight pang every time she looked at him with the mask off. Just his hair color alone reminded her of Emma, and by extension, all the things she'd done as the toady to Winslow's Queen bitches. Now here she was, a Ward, mostly eclipsed by her victim, her victim who had inherited the power of a vampire god. One who, frighteningly, seemed to channel Dracul's worst traits in fleeting moments.

He smiled a bit nervously. "Hey, Mads. Got a sec?"

She clicked PHO closed. "Sure. What do you need?"

He walked into her quarters and shut the door. During the quarantine, some of the Wards were stuck on-base. Clockblocker was free to head home, but Madison and most of the rest were tied down, due to either injuries or just identity protection. Gallant's missing arm wasn't something they could easily hide, after all.

Dennis' face was filled with a small, desperate hope. "Listen...um, I got a huge favor to ask of you."

Madison nodded. "I'll help if I can."

He bit his lip. "I...your amulets can heal brain injuries, right? Just about anything? Can they heal cancer?"

She blinked. "I honestly don't know. They should, I don't see why they couldn't."

He nodded quickly, hope flaring in his eyes. "I need to borrow one. My dad's got a tumor, cancer problems...he was on the waiting list for Panacea to take care of when she...and with this quarantine, specialists can't be brought in."

Without a second thought, she took off her amulet and handed it to him. "Go, Dennis. Take care of your dad."

He smiled with gratitude. "Thanks, Mads. I owe you." He turned and left, nearly bouncing on his feet with excitement.

She chucked, shaking her head. A thought struck her, and she stroked her chin before she opened a window in her costume design program.

Maybe, just maybe...

She felt the cold light within her heart turn warm at her idea.


	72. Empire 7-1

A/N: Busy, busy, busy. Stupid life. Why do I work? Oh. Right. Need to eat. Derp.

* * *

I cackled to myself as I surveyed my empire.

"You thought you could stop me and my legions, didn't you? You underestimated me. You tried to destroy me. You tried to send spies into my territory. You tried to smuggle a nuclear weapon beneath my nose and destroy everything I worked so hard to build. Now you are defeated. Broken. And I shall now erase you from history! Go, my minions! Destroy my enemies!" I grinned as I flicked my finger.

And my marines destroyed the last defense the Persians had on their last city, Pasargade. I immediately sent in an elephant, (which had been leftover from a few hundred turns ago) conquered it, and got the pop-up message and sad music saying 'The Persian Empire has been destroyed.'

There was something satisfying about Civilization. Too bad Dracul never had it. It might have helped him unwind.

The last few days, with the city on lockdown, I spent catching up with my dad and taking a break from politicking, running around, or doing much more than catching up on my sleep and unwinding. I hadn't been that much of a video game fan, though I did enjoy them, but playing Civilization on my phone was one way to pass the time. It was a way to while away the morning while everything was still shut down. Most stores and shops were closed, but services _were_ slowly resuming.

For my dad's sake, when I stayed home, I did so as my original, human (well, humanish) self. I also didn't leave the house in any way other than by portals. All the better to help separate my public self from who I really was. If I'd been smarter, less...emotionally volatile when I'd awakened, I might have considered that. As it was, I just had to hope that anyone stupid enough to piss me off by trying to attack my father would be held in by his peers. Calling myself a refugee from another world was another way to help separate my old identity to that of the Scarlet Dragon. I was partially surprised how much the PRT and Protectorate were playing along. Anyone who tried to dig up just why I'd been hanging around this neighborhood before 'revealing the truth' was...

Crap. I needed a good cover story. Great going, Taylor, yet again, you leaped before you looked, on an _international scale._

Maybe I should just give up and go conquer Mars or something.

I'll have to bring it up at the meeting with the PRT. Though my guess was my upcoming appointment was going to address some of these things. I wasn't looking forward to it. If they tried to force me to do their bidding, I was going to make sure they regretted it. And if they hurt my father, or my friends? Well, I wouldn't go as far as I did as on Jack, but I'd make my unhappiness with their choices very, _very_ clear.

For I am the Lady of Darkness, and I have only one equal. I will not bow to anyone.

I hoped nobody would be that stupid, but unfortunately, human stupidity knows no limits.

I looked around as I lazed on my bed. My room felt weird. This house was where I grew up, and there were a lot of memories here. It felt weird to reclaim my room after I'd been dead for three months. Even after getting back, I hadn't spent that much time here. I mostly used it to just sleep, and when I slept, I dreamt of Castlevania. It was home, but it also wasn't. I felt more at home in the castle full of demons, serving me, than my own house with my own father. And now, because of the little charade I had going on, I rarely came back here. I wasn't even leaving the house by the front door, back door, or even window. I just used my portals.

Out of _all_ my powers, that one may just be the most useful. The dragon shape was greater, more obviously powerful, and more easily destructive, but it wasn't always the best for a given situation. It _was_ very useful, but in confined quarters (I _still_ hated those) or in a situation where there might be collateral damage, turning into a dragon wouldn't be that helpful. Not unless I could manage a smaller version.

Which I probably could. My powers were bullshit. Not quite as bullshit as Tinkers, but bullshit nonetheless.

Still, portals! Dracul mostly used it to get from place to place, or move a large number of his armies quickly. I was planning on building a portal network _everywhere._ And more than that, I could see quite a few other applications, provided the right safety measures were used. Irrigation systems, hydroelectric plants, and probably about a million other applications I wasn't aware of.

Out of curiosity, I even tried to make a portal to Earth Aleph. Didn't work, though the portal seemed to want to form, it just fizzled. There was some kind of resistance there that meant it didn't work as others did. I needed something else to make that work, but I wasn't sure what that might be.

The door knocked.

"Come in." I answered as I saved my game, putting my plans for world domination on temporary hold, and set my phone aside.

My dad opened the door, taking the chair at my desk as he settled into it. He smiled at me, though his voice was quiet, a tinge of nervousness and fear in his tone. "Hey kiddo."

I sighed. "Dad, relax. I'm not going to go nuts here."

He frowned at me, deep concern in his voice. "Taylor, I'm worried. I'm glad you came back, more than I can ever say. But the things you're doing, the things you've _done..._ It scares me how much influence Dracul has over you."

I stayed quiet for a moment. Truth be told, it scared me sometimes, too. When I was calm, I felt like me. But when I was enraged, I could feel quite a bit of...well, not Dracul, exactly, but what I _could_ be at my possible worst. A successor in name and deed, sitting upon a throne of skulls, to have the entire world trembling in fear at my name. In the heat of the moment, I did what Dracul would have done. _Again._ I should have just outright killed Jack, instead, I impaled him. Sure, it felt good, _righteous_ in the moment.

Now? That moment might have felt really good, and a lot of people were saying he deserved it. Some were approving. Hell, a _lot_ were approving, thanks to the video Jack had apparently gone to great lengths to make sure was recorded and automatically released even if he never came back. But I could see the fear people had of me, hesitation now, and not just in my enemies. And I didn't like it. Worse, I had no idea how to fix it.

There were only two things that helped mitigate the problem. First, the impalement wasn't on camera. Two, it caught my breakdown when I returned to the scene, my body covered in gore. Fucking Bonesaw. The baby had been infected by a particular virus that turned cellular fluid into an explosive compound that reacted happily with oxygen.

You see why I think Tinkers are bullshit? It's more bullshit than my physics-breaking vampiric bullshit.

"Taylor?" Dad spoke.

Oh. I'd wandered off into my own head again. I sighed before I responded. "I'm scared of that too, dad. I can remember a lot of the things _he_ did. So many terrible things, and each step of the way, he had a justification. 'They killed my wife and stole my son.' 'They sent my son to kill me.' 'They serve a coward of a god.' Until...he just didn't care, anymore. Alucard managed to reach him only after centuries of a stalemate that hadn't accomplished much of anything. I can remember how he slid from being a noble person, like...like, hell, _Legend_ or _Hero,_ until he was regarded as...well, Satan on Earth. He didn't start a horrible person..." I sat up, looking at my father with concern. "He just...slid. One step at a time. Just a little more ruthless than he was the day before."

Carefully, he hugged me. I closed my eyes, sighing as I leaned into the embrace.

His voice was quiet. "Did he have anyone?"

I blinked. "Well, he had his servants, the demons he made...which are mine now, I guess, and those who joined his side..."

Dad let out a tired chuckle. "No, not what I meant."

I pulled back and looked at him questioningly.

"People need peers, kiddo." He spoke softly. "They need friends. They don't necessarily need a _lot_ of friends, but they need people they can be honest with. Someone who won't just let them go off the deep end." His face went cloudy. "If nothing else, the damn Nine knew that much. People on their own are easier to mess with. Social bonds are some of the strongest there can be." His lip twitched. "Of course, you get the occasional loner who doesn't need anybody at all, but those people go off into the mountains and nobody hears about them. It's those who have power and don't listen to anyone, or just have followers who are afraid to say something they might not want to hear, _those_ are the ones who go off the deep end. Don't have to look very far to find examples."

I swallowed at that. The memories Dracul shared with me, they showed exactly that from his own perspective. Everything had been taken from him, and he created demons to do his bidding. Those who rebelled against him were brutally slain, their very souls destroyed. There was nothing to stop him from going further into the worst of his psyche. It didn't take him all that long to become the monster of the world.

But behind that monster was a man. A broken man. I had to be better than that. I had to be. There wasn't any choice here. I'd seen what happens to someone who walks Dracul's path. He had power enough that even the other gods of his world stayed out of his way while he sought vengeance against the strongest of them. And throughout all of it, he was miserable. All he had was the desire to kill Solin, and everything else in his soul dropped away in pursuit of that goal.

I sighed and nodded, squeezing my dad's shoulders. "I'm sorry, dad. I...I haven't been a very good daughter, have I? Since I got back, I just... _did_ things. I haven't considered much of anything. I haven't thought much of how much I must be putting you through...there's just _so much_ relying on me."

He hugged me tightly, his voice soft. "Too much like your mother, kiddo. I'm proud of you, and I love you. I'm just begging you for one thing... _please stop scaring me._ "

I couldn't help it. I laughed helplessly under my breath. "Can't...vampire queen. I scare people just by existing here."

He just shook his head, a long-suffering sigh escaping him. "Can't even ground you."

My helpless laughter grew stronger. "Can't send me to bed without my supper."

Dad's voice was filled with amusement. "Can't take away your TV privileges."

"Can't take away my allowance."

We stayed there together, enjoying the moment, sharing small, weak laughs. I resolved to _try_ to spend more time with my dad.

And figure out a way to go around in public with him without making him a target.

* * *

I made my way to Brockton General, once again in my demonic form. I was hoping to get people used to my appearance through exposure, and you know, it was pretty helpful to look like a succubus. Albeit a young one. And a red one. And a terrifying one. And...you know what, I'm going to leave it there. I had looks that would have rivaled Emma's like this, albeit inhuman. It wasn't that much of a surprise in retrospect how many people ended up drooling over Meridia. Heck, there were some drooling over _me,_ and I was a two next to her ten.

Huh. Might get in trouble, or get someone in trouble, if I don't fix that. Well, I _could_ mould my own flesh a fair bit, though nowhere near as much as Amy could. I'll see if I can age myself up a few years, carefully. Would be nice to spend eternity at twenty-five rather than fifteen. I'll see about slowly doing that, though. Not much sense in jumping forward ten years physically if I wasn't there mentally.

I was glad to be a vampire, especially since the alternative was just being straight-up plain dead. But there were still some downsides. I could see why Laura got so miserable, eventually. Stuck as a ten year old forever? Yeah. No wonder she defined freedom as death. I was absurdly lucky to have other options.

Aaaand I was drawing a crowd as I flew lazily toward the hospital. Bad part is, there was so much sheer _adulation_ that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with. Even Dracul wasn't exactly loved. His demons were fanatically loyal, but that was a combination of him being their ultimate maker and that he demanded nothing less. Spikes, the Void Sword, or being ripped apart by his burning claws were for those who didn't fall in line. If he didn't just eat them. There were quite a few types of the more intelligent demons that just weren't around anymore because of that. Typhon's type, born of pride, being one big example.

No help for it. I sighed to myself, sped up my flight and arrived at the hospital, entering by the front door and letting myself in, giving a little wave to the receptionist. This one was a young redhead, and her eyes were wide as she looked at me. Another fan. Great. I wasn't going to deal with crowds today if I could help it. I needed a break. I _did_ have a plan to offer an interview a little later, but not today.

I only managed my post-Simurgh press conference with a lot of urging, drawing on Dracul, and a comparative few reporters. And I _still_ lost my cue cards.

I reached a room that was on the northern side of the building, the room darkened with blinds and blankets covering the windows. I knocked gently, and a moment later, Alucard opened it.

His smile was gentle. "Welcome back."

I nodded, returning the smile. "Good to see you, Alucard. Settling in?"

He nodded, backing up a step as he spoke. "The hospital has been very helpful. The saved blood of the wounded has been helpful for our particular thirst."

I walked into the room, looking at where Meridia was sleeping. The demoness was curled up on her side, wrapped in blankets so much that I couldn't see much more than a bit of white hair poking out the top. The pile was utterly still, which would have worried me if she wasn't undead now. "How is she?"

He frowned a little. "Adjusting. The sun is deadly to her. Perhaps in time she will adapt to it, as I have...to an extent, in any case. That may be a very long time, however. Vampirism granted to a demon makes things a little..."

I quirked my lip. "Difficult?"

Alucard looked amused. "Aye. The ones I'm more familiar with were usually chosen for combat. Which is not to say a succubus could not be dangerous in combat, but their skills tended to be more towards the social aspects of things. And pleasure, of course." He shook his head, his voice filled with remembrance. "How many times father tried to use them to gather knowledge. They usually did best with fat priests."

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Then I shook my head. "Nope. Not going to touch that one with a fifty foot pole."

Alucard smiled at that. "I must admit, that is a an amusing image. Your world has odd sayings."

Meridia's voice was muffled. "Nothing about your world makes any sense."

I looked over at the pile of blankets. "Well, not much about yours did, either." I sighed and shook my head. "Sorry. That's not fair to you two." I looked to Alucard. "How are you dealing with it? Knowing it's just...gone?"

He was still for a moment, before his voice came out softly. "My world ended long before it died, Taylor. It ended when I died, and ended again when I reawakened to find my wife dead and my son a man, facing my father. To know that it is gone is a hard thing, but...it's not something I can grasp, not really. The idea is simply too _large._ " He shifted his gaze to the wall. "Even my wife's grave is gone. Even my last hope of seeing her again is uncertain..."

I furrowed my brow. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

Meridia's voice came from under the blankets. "Souls can be reborn, My Lady. Some of the demons in the castle are reborn or remade humans. Or other beings. Few remember much of their former lives, so it tends to matter little. Sometimes some few souls manage to carry some more fragments of their past selves along."

Alucard nodded. "Twice, I found my wife. When I was mortal, when we were first married. The second time, seven centuries later, she lived a new life as an explorer, an adventurer. She knew me, although not how or why." A sad look crossed his face. "She had been searching for something her entire life. Me. We...did not have long together, mere days."

I swallowed, grimacing at the thought. "How'd you know it was her?"

He shook his head. "Tis difficult. But she knew my name, my _real_ name, on first glance." His face clouded over. "She died when we faced my father, together. She slew him, using his own Vampire Killer. That was the last time he fell before the arrival of the Abomination."

I nodded. Now that he mentioned it, I could feel the fragment of the memory in my head. Dracul, slaying his killer out of spite, laughing as he knew he would rise again, while she would not. A tall blonde, amazonian, strong. Alucard's blade slicing through his neck, rage on his son's face at the second murder of his beloved Sonia.

I spoke softly, my voice filled with sympathy. And guilt. "So what? You're going to hope she does it again?"

A faint smile rose on his lips. "I have an eternity. Should I perish, I will seek to be reborn with her, as a mortal. If she is reborn as a mortal, I shall cross paths with her at some time, and we shall discuss what is to be done. That may take some time, but I have learned patience if nothing else." He looked pensive. "It is one of the few hopes I have left."

I went to him, hugging him gently. He stiffened at the contact, then a moment later, he relaxed a little bit. After a moment, he gently patted my shoulder.

His voice was quiet. "It is not something you can help with. I must merely wait. Fate can be cruel, but few things can be cruel for an eternity." He looked over at the pile of blankets. "It would be best if you emerged, Meridia. You cannot hide under there forever."

Meridia's voice was petulant. "I can if I wish. I'm hideous. You'll reject me. I am no longer sculpted to perfection."

Alucard sounded annoyed. "You are not. I have told you this before."

I frowned. "Meridia, come on out. I'm sure you're fine. And even if you're not, you've earned your place with us. You risked your life to face the Siberian. You'd have to do some _really horrible_ things to make me reject you, and your looks aren't one of them."

Slowly, the blankets parted as she pushed them off. She got to her feet, holding sheets over her form protectively. Huh, I hadn't expected her to be modest. But then...

Wait a sec.

The first thing that caught my attention was that her skin had turned completely black. Her hair was still white, but now there were also a pair of horns curving up and around the sides of her head, coiled like the horns of a ram. Her ears had grown long and pointed. Her wings had shifted in shape, glowing faintly red, spined and draconic, like my own. And...was that a tail swishing behind her? Yep, that's a tail alright, a long, fairly thin, and soft-looking tail. Despite her words, she seemed even _more_ attractive, at least to my eyes. Definitely more inhuman, but nothing beyond my own current shape.

I looked to Alucard.

He shrugged. "I told you. Turning a demon into a vampire is unpredictable."

I looked back at Meridia. Her lip was trembling. I sighed to myself, went up to her, and hugged her tightly.

She clung to me, her body trembling. "I'm hideous, My Lady."

I shook my head. "Nope. You're not. You're not at all. Damn it, Meridia, you're fine. I can think of quite a few people who'll be happy to see you." I quirked my lip. "We wouldn't even have to do much to dress you like a drow at a D&D convention."

She pulled back a little, looking confused. "What is a drow?"

I frowned a little as I tried to figure out a way to explain it. So much cultural stuff...

Finally, I shook my head. "I'll explain it later. Actually, I'll show you later. You're fine, Meridia."

"Here is a drow." Alucard said. I turned to look.

He held out his phone, a...definitely unsafe for work picture on it. Meridia took it, looked over the 'art' and purred with approval.

Questioningly, I looked at him. He shrugged, a faint smile on his face. "Your 'internet' is a weird but interesting place."

Meridia was now busily flicking her fingers over the screen, her purr of approval getting louder. And...something sweet-smelling was filling the air. And the blankets had fallen to the floor. No, my mouth was not dry. Nope. Nope. Nope. Yep. Ye... _no._

Alucard's smile faded. "I...may have miscalculated."

Meridia looked at me, a wide, interested and _hungry_ smile on her face. "I need to see more of this 'internet.'"

Yeah, he may have just doomed us all. He'd better look embarrassed.


	73. Empire 7-2

A/N: Oh, succubi are way too much fun, even keeping things SWF. Thank you, past self, for making Meridia! I'm glad everyone's enjoying her presence here as much as I am.

And not just because of the fun things she can get up to. Even if they are offscreen.

* * *

I looked up at the PRT building.

During the middle of the fight with the Nine, I hadn't had much time to take in the damage done to it. Just a few scant months ago, the building was a pristine, shining beacon, a symbol of law and order. It was designed to inspire awe, and feelings of security, just as Dracul's castle was designed to inspire foreboding and fear to the enemy.

Now the top floors were gone completely, a few jagged shards of glass poking upward, like the clawed fingers of some immense beast. A lot of the outer windows were destroyed, the glass having scattered mostly _inside_ the building itself. Sure, conventional physics said that most of the glass should have scattered outwards, but powers were bullshit. Sometimes it was just easier to accept that and move on. Even though it was just such _fun_ to complain.

I walked in through the entrance, swallowing as I pushed down my instinctive fear. I knew they wouldn't try and contain me again, at least unless I went nuts, but even now, the idea of being trapped again wasn't something I enjoyed. Sure, I know I had the means to escape, unless they happened to figure out some way to counter my own unique brand of bullshit. Still, my subconscious wasn't easy to convince, and I was stuck with my fear, whether I liked it or not. All I could do was deal. Already knew I couldn't run forever.

" _It ain't easy, Red. After a while, we just deal, cause we got no other choice."_

That reminded me, I needed to head by the Pelhams later today. Vicky needed moral support. And...yeah, I needed her friendship, too. All this terrible shit dumped on us, and now we were just trying to get through it and deal with things.

The receptionist looked up, going pale as she recognized me. She was the same one from my first day back, the same perky blonde. That felt like ages ago, now.

I smiled gently, careful to make sure my fangs weren't showing. "Scarlet for three." I made sure to arrive early, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues. Piggot had a lot on her plate.

The receptionist smiled faintly, slight relief showing in her posture. "Director Piggot's expecting you." She nodded to the elevator at the side.

I took one look at the doors. And winced, and shuddered. Turning back to the receptionist, I sighed. "I'll be using the stairs."

A PRT trooper, who had just come up to my side, groaned. Behind her face-guard, she looked at me with a long-suffering look. "Do you have to use the stairs?"

I grimaced. "Kind of, yes. I do not like small spaces. Your elevator counts. You're welcome to use it and meet me up there."

She groaned. "Can't let you go on your own. Director's orders."

I shook my head with a chuckle. "Well, we'd better get to it, then."

* * *

I was led to a conference room, where Director Piggot and Armsmaster were waiting. Armsmaster was standing, halberd in hand, while Piggot was sitting beside a large screen, it taking up most of the wall. I noticed the room was a fair bit warmer than the hall when I strode inside, and a bit more humid. Still, it was pleasant enough in there.

Piggot looked at my escort, who, despite her protests, had went up the stairs without _too_ much trouble. She kept in shape, though I suppose taking the stairs up ten floors wasn't exactly fun anyway. My undead status made me near-tireless, and even if it hadn't, my power more than made up the difference.

Piggot looked to my escort. "Thank you, Harper. You're dismissed."

She snapped off a salute and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

I gave Piggot and Armsmaster a nod, folding my hands in front of me. "Well, I'm glad to see you both made it through things okay. How's Kid Win, and Vista?"

Armsmaster inclined his head. "Kid Win's stable, for the moment. He's healing well, thanks to those amulets, but he's resting. Vista's on leave with her family."

Piggot scowled. "We have a lot to discuss." She picked up a remote I hadn't noticed and hit a button.

The screen lit up, divided into two sections. Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown took up one section, sitting behind a desk, a rather nice view of the Los Angeles skyline behind her. The other was a man I didn't recognize, but he had the distinctive PRT logo on the walls behind him. His office seemed spartan, without even the smallest personal effect there.

Piggot cleared her throat. "Chief Director Costa-Brown, Director James Tagg. We're here to discuss the actions of Scarlet Knight, now Scarlet Dragon, in light of concerns that have come up." Piggot looked at me, her expression unreadable.

Tagg, on the middle screen, leaned forward. _"_ _I hope for your sake, you have good answers."_

Costa-Brown frowned, her voice full of warning. _"_ _Tagg."_

I looked from the screens, to Piggot, then Armsmaster. The Protectorate hero was stiff, but I could see the fingers on his halberd clenching slightly. He _seemed_ relaxed, but I recognized the way he was holding himself. He was ready to leap into action in a second, if required. And he was hoping it wasn't required.

 _You are the Dragon. They are beneath you. You are not their servant, but their master. Make them see it and force them to bow to your will, or destroy them as they deserve._

I tried to not let my surprise show. Those words were _very_ clear. Goddamn it, Dracul.

I let my voice take on a cool tone. "First of all, I need a few assurances. I plan to tell you as much as I can." I looked to Tagg. "I assume you've been briefed fully on me?"

He nodded, his expression unreadable. _"_ _I've signed the relevant forms, yes. I know your true identity, though I don't know why you're trying to pull the ruse of being the island's 'leader' on everyone. What are you trying to pull, claiming to be a leader of a foreign nation while at the same time pushing for prosecution of your 'murderer.' You're either Taylor Hebert, murder victim who revived, or Scarlet Dragon, parahuman ruler. You can't have it both ways."_

 _He dares dictate his petty mortal terms to me?_

I lifted an eyebrow as I looked to Piggot. "I'm actually somewhat surprised you're still pushing the case through."

She frowned. "I'm not about to try antagonizing you. I don't like being manipulated, and it was such that got us into this mess. I _don't_ want to see you act like Kaiser. Besides..." She grimaced. "I'm glad you're not one of the damned villains out there, but had things just gone _slightly_ worse after your return, I can easily see you having become so. The idea of someone with your power, unrestrained? It's a nightmarish scenario, and it _nearly happened_ thanks to Shadow Stalker. It'd be as bad as the Nine. If we can get Stalker back in our hands, we'll take care of things there. But in the meantime, the Barnes are nearly as responsible."

 _That was well done._

Oh, goddamn it. Was I going to get _that_ all the time now, too?

Mentally whacking Dracul with a whiffle bat, I nodded in understanding. Truth be told, I'd forgotten about the case. I had other, larger concerns on my mind. "Speak your concerns, and I will answer them to the best of my ability." I took off my helmet, setting it on the conference table. Sure, these days, it didn't conceal my face, but it would help get across my reactions.

Tagg spoke then, his voice even and dangerous. _"_ _First of all, we need to discuss your island. It is my understanding you have a lot of 'citizens' there. What guarantee do you have that they won't run rampant?"_

I looked at his screen, lifting an eyebrow. "What guarantee do you have that no United States citizen won't, say, head to China and blow things up? I can't give such a guarantee because my citizens are free-willed, thinking beings. I _can_ say that they won't attack anyone else with my orders, with the exception of anyone who attacks _me and their home,_ first. I am their god-queen. Their freedom from a place of eternal darkness is reliant on _me._ The animalistic denizens of my island are under the control of the smarter ones, and the smarter ones do not want to anger me." I smiled slightly. "You're worried I'm another Nilbog. I'm not. He carved out his territory out in the middle of your own. He created creatures, monsters, all to kill his hometown. He's content to sit around behind those walls you erected around him."

I noticed Piggot flinch slightly, so I softened my tone somewhat. "Whereas I just brought something that already existed, albeit out of reach of you, _into_ reach. And in the process I'm bringing resources that just might help us kill the last two Endbringers. Now I'm not about to let my citizens run around. I'll bring golems, like before, for the next time they appear, along with volunteers of my people, but they're not going to set foot off the island unless I let it happen. Right now, they simply lack the means. They won't be able to move until I drop them on the Endbringers. Those _need_ to be stopped. Permanently." I looked at Costa-Brown. "I'm guessing you've got entire labs worth of people trying to find easier ways to cut the Simurgh apart, in hopes of it working on the other two?"

A faintly amused smile was on the Chief-Director's lips. _"_ _Naturally. We'll discuss that another meeting."_

Tagg cut in, his scowl taking up most of his screen. _"_ _I'm recommending a handler be assigned to you on a long-term basis. If you're going to insist on this farce of being a foreign ruler, we can't have you running around solo on American soil. At this point I could have you arrested for espionage."_

 _Ah, the petty lord tries to collar me. He deserves a face full of flame for his arrogance._

I stared at him. A smile nearly split my face in half. "Nice joke. Had me going for a moment there."

Tagg's scowl grew deeper. _"_ _I'm not joking, girl. You're_ _ **claiming**_ _to be the head of a state that self-admittedly spied on our country. If it weren't for the goodwill you've earned, I'd have already recommended an attack on that floating castle of yours. You_ _ **don't**_ _have the right to run roughshod over us just because you have powers, even if you're Triumvirate level or even above."_ He leaned forward in his chair. _"_ _You don't get extra privilege just because you have power."_

I couldn't help but laugh. "Really? I have an example for you. Lung. He was allowed to roam around free for years, because he has strength enough to beat anyone, given time. More examples? Kaiser, who runs a gang of actual fucking neo-Nazis. He's got the privilege of being free because he brings his gang to fight Endbringers, despite the fact that every time he does, he gets more recruits to his sick cause. Want something non-local? Glastig Uaine. How many people did she kill before she walked into the Birdcage? Now I come along, actually being _helpful,_ and you're being a massive fucking idiot. If I was as bad as some of the people on the internet claim, I'd be eating your heart by now."

Tagg opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Costa-Brown. _"_ _Tagg, your next words had better be an apology or your intention to quit. While we all have concerns about the actions of powerful parahumans, needlessly antagonizing one that's not only powerful but is a leader of an entire_ _ **nation**_ _of parahumans is foolish in the extreme. That's not your job."_

Tagg clamped his mouth shut, visibly stewed for a few seconds, then spoke. _"_ _My apologies."_

I smiled, though I was sure it didn't reach my eyes. "Accepted. Now...I promised to answer your questions, didn't I?"

Piggot spoke, her voice neutral. "The Master ability you used on Bonesaw. What is it?"

I grimaced. "That is the _least_ favorite ability I have. I've used it twice, the first by accident, and the second time on Bonesaw because I saw no other choice."

Tagg glared at me through the screen. _"_ _You Mastered a civilian? That's a Birdcage-level offense, right there."_

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't Master anybody _other_ than Bonesaw. When I discovered I had that power, it was by possessing a rat. Which, by the way, lived for about thirty seconds before its little body failed under the strain and I exploded out of it." I frowned as I tried to consider things from their point of view. "You're concerned I might use it to control someone high up in the government? It's not much use, even if I were inclined. It's a horrific thing to do to somebody, and I didn't even _want_ to do it to Bonesaw. But it was the only way I could save Mark and Carol Dallon." I took a deep breath and sighed. "I really, really hate the shit the Nine pulled. Anyway, that power of mine has drawbacks. I can take someone over, but I don't get their memories. I can use their skills and abilities, but I don't get their passwords or anything like that. Also, anyone I use it on will die. Bonesaw lasted three hours because of the extensive upgrades she used on herself. I doubt an ordinary person would last more than ten minutes."

Piggot was somewhat pale. Armsmaster seemed stotic. Costa-Brown furrowed her brow, her voice thoughtful. _"_ _If that's the case, then standard M/S protocols would catch you rather easily."_

Tagg seemed aghast. _"_ _We're not going to take action?"_

Costa-Brown shook her head. _"_ _I'll be concerned about Scarlet using that power on someone when she does it to someone_ _ **without**_ _a long-standing kill order on their heads. Given she used it to save two heroes_ _ **and**_ _created the vaccine that prevented a deadly plague from escaping the city? I'm certainly willing to allow it."_

I nodded. "For what it's worth, I don't like using it, even on Bonesaw, or anyone else. I just had no other way of getting her to undo her work. I tried to convince her, but she wanted to cut my head open and work on me as her price. _That_ was not going to happen. I wasn't going to take the risk that I could end up a puppet of the fucking Nine."

Even Tagg winced at that.

Costa-Brown nodded in understanding. _"_ _They've been a scourge on the world for too long. I'm glad to see them gone."_

Tagg's scowl just grew deeper. _"_ _I'm leery about letting you run around without a handler. You took the Siberian head-on and didn't get turned into a smear for it. How many other people could do the same?"_

I sighed. "That really doesn't matter. I understand your concerns, truth be told I share them. I have great power, enough that it scares me. I can _fully_ understand why it scares you, too." I pulled out a chair and sat in it, putting my hands on the conference table. "This may take a bit. And some of it is going to sound crazy." I looked to Armsmaster. "I assume you have your lie detector program running, and having this recorded?"

He nodded.

I took a deep breath and spoke. "You noticed I'm versatile, and powerful." My lip quirked. "Dare I ask what my official ratings are, at the moment?"

Piggot's lips curled slightly in amusement. "We've actually given up on an official listing. You're classified as a Trump 10 S-class parahuman. If only because it's easier than labelling every single power you've been observed using. You're the combination of every damn nightmare cape I've ever heard of."

Tagg growled from the screen. _"_ _If you had revealed the full scope of your powers_ _ **before**_ _Vancouver, you'd likely have been recruited or caged by now."_

I smiled faintly. "You can't cage me, even in the Birdcage. You can't control me. And you can't afford to kill me. I suggest, _Director Tagg,_ that you get your priorities straight. I'm dangerous, I know. You're afraid of me, I know that too. But why the _hell_ do you think antagonizing me is a good idea? I've done nothing but _help people since I woke up in my damn coffin._ If you want a world without the fucking Endbringers slowly driving us into extinction, then _let me help_ without trying to fucking _enslave me_."

Tagg narrowed his eyes. _"_ _We have the legal right and duty to assess threats to our country and the world as a whole, and to eliminate them if necessary. You_ _ **aren't**_ _one. Yet. I hope you never become one, but I_ _ **have**_ _to assess the possibility. Too many parahumans appeared to be friendly or harmless at first, only for their real potential and danger to become apparent later. You're just_ _ **one**_ _example."_ He tapped the papers in front of him. _"_ _Scarlet Knight, power: Teleportation without line of sight. Mover four, tentative. Then added lines, Changer three, bat swarm. Master six, bat control. Shaker four, thermokinesis, later upgraded to_ _ **eight.**_ _The list goes on and on here. We finally put all this data past our Thinkers and you know what they came up with? Your power is listed as_ _ **Adaptive Trump.**_ _And worse, your files state you require a diet of_ _ **blood.**_ _I think I have every right to be concerned about you. If I had it my way, I'd have had you declared a ward of the state, put you in the Wards program, or put you under study in a_ _ **very deep hole.**_ _"_

I frowned at him. "Well, I'm glad you don't have your way, because if I were as terrible as you think, you'd be risking the very thing you're afraid of. Me _off the leash._ " I looked at the Chief-Director's side of the screen. "Now I suggest you get him off the line. He's not exactly helping my mood at the moment. Either he goes or I do, and the next time we talk will be on _my_ soil."

Tagg actually growled. _"_ _You don't get to dictate terms to me-"_

Costa-Brown cut him off, her voice even and dangerous. _"_ _Director Tagg, that's enough. Your input has been appreciated, and will no longer be required today."_

Tagg opened his mouth, shut it, then stiffened behind his desk. _"_ _Understood, Chief-Director."_ He moved his hand, then his half of the screen went black.

I shook my head. "What an ass."

Costa-Brown looked faintly amused at that.

Piggot spoke, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Still, he does have a point, although he was being rather idiotic about pushing it. We're all nervous about you. Can we...at least _try_ to work something out? If we don't figure out some kind of equitable arrangement to take to the government, they could demand you head to your island and stay there, barring the Endbringers going on the attack. And if you just ignored that..."

I took a deep breath, considering her words. Okay, point taken. I had a lot of goodwill, but burning it in a contest of wills wasn't going to help my goals. But I wasn't going to help my goals if I let them run roughshod over me, either. I might be young, but I wasn't...okay, I was dumb, but I _did_ have the impression of a man who knew how this shit worked in my head.

 _You are the Lord of Darkness. They must bow to you or suffer the wrath of the Dragon. Raze their petty kingdom to ashes with the fires of Hell._

Okay, that's out. His advice is terrible.

I sighed, and slowly spoke. "All right. How about this...while I'm in public here, until the quarantine drops, I'll play nice." Tapping my chin, I nodded slowly to myself. "I wouldn't mind it if Miss Militia was my 'protection' while we get things sorted out." I looked between Armsmaster, Piggot, and the impassive face on the big TV screen. "I've got a lot to prepare for. Regardless of his posturing, I _am_ going to lend aid." I lifted a finger as Piggot opened her mouth. "But if I'm pressed, I just may decide to take up a few offers I got in the mail. Both Australia and Canada have offered me a _lot_ of land to settle my people in. Now I _want_ to see this city get out of its economic slump. I've even started work on a plan that just might help out with that."

Armsmaster nodded slowly. "Which is?"

I smiled faintly. "You've seen my portals. With a gateway built here, I can make them permanent. I can even make it so that they don't need me to open them. And...well, I'm going to need to do some testing, but distance isn't an issue. I can put a portal here, you take a step through, take another portal in my Shadow Plane, and be somewhere else. Even, say...London. Or Madrid, or Antarctica. You could get there in ten minutes or less. Or on a more mundane note? Little portals for internet providers and phone lines. Done right, we just might get faster than light communications. It's an extension of the Endbringer shelter I'm building in there."

Costa-Brown blinked. _"_ _That would be...very valuable."_

My smile was positively feral. "I thought so. Now I'm not asking for much. I think it's entirely reasonable for me to get a few qualified contractors in exchange, hm?" I had to repress a laugh. "Oh, and where can I pick up one of these big screens, anyway? Would be a really nice home theater system."


	74. Interlude: Cauldron

A/N: Yeah, there was some idiocy last chapter. But now, at least, the reasons appear!

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown demanded. "She's labeled an S-class parahuman and you _intentionally_ attempt to provoke her after I told you to back off? You're lucky she didn't decide to break off _all_ relations and move to Australia. If she'd been as much of a threat as you _think,_ we'd probably be _at war_ with her right now!"

Tagg stood unmoving, his hands folded behind his back. "With respect, Chief-Director, I believed that we could use the appropriate pressure to get her under control. She is a United States citizen. Her father is a citizen. She has plenty of areas where we can push the appropriate political pressure to bring her into the Protectorate. If we went to her father, and had him sign her up for the Wards, legally she has to obey. I thought it worth the risk. Senator Oakley is demanding that she be brought under control, in exchange for ensuring the Barnes case is uninterrupted."

Rebecca glared at him. "Legally? She's got power enough to just ignore any legal pressure we attempt to bring to bear upon her. When I was pushed by Congress to put pressure on her, I objected. I called it idiotic. I called it ludicrous. Senator Oakley, Senator Tooms, Senator Johnson and Genera Hanlon threatened to pull my funding if I didn't. Do you have _any_ idea how much trouble we went through over this? Do you have any clue the danger you risked?"

Tagg kept himself still, knowing his input wasn't wanted just yet.

"I dislike having my hands forced, Tagg. You went _over my head_ to Oakley. Did you think I wouldn't discover it?"

Tagg didn't move, his voice without emotion. "Permission to speak freely?"

Rebecca nodded. "Granted."

His voice was filled with self-assurance. "I took the necessary steps, Chief-Director. There have been concerns that your administration hasn't been as effective as it should be, given the resources available to the PRT. It's been noticed that things have been sliding downhill for years, Chief-Director. There's a lack of firepower and manpower in the hands of the PRT as a whole, while the capes get the best hand at everything. The best resources, first share on materials, the best scientists to help them work through their powers. Meanwhile, we're using gear that hasn't been updated in four years. Ten in other places. And we're expected to keep entire cities walled in permanently with minimal support."

She narrowed her eyes, easily getting to the point he was slowly getting around to. "You believe you can do a better job than I do."

Tagg nodded. "You've done fine work leading the PRT, Chief-Director. However we're no longer growing. We're being slowly bled to death. Villains run rampant in every city in America. Brockton Bay is the worst off, but even in New York, right under Legend's nose, there's a lot of villain activity that just isn't handled. It needs to be stopped. If we cracked down _hard_ on all parahuman activity, either recruit or neutralize all parahumans, we'd have a stronger fighting force. Endbringer fights would end sooner if we piled every cape in the country on them, we _know_ Behemoth and Leviathan run when they've taken enough damage. And while the villains fighting back would do some damage until they were brought under control, we could actually fix the problems any given city had once they were removed. The 'unwritten rules' are a bandage over an infected wound. It makes things seem okay, but it doesn't help in the long run. The infection itself has to be cleaned before things will get better."

Rebecca smiled slightly. "I see where you're coming from, James. But it simply wouldn't work. Especially considering some of the capes out there. When Scarlet first appeared, it was _your_ recommendation that she be brought in with all possible leverage." She made a show of looking at the sheet of paper on her desk. "Let's see... this is right after she neutralized Bakuda and her gang. And _after_ she defeated Lung, which she did less than a day after crawling out of her grave. 'Put pressure on her father to sign his legal guardianship over to the PRT. Place in the High-Stress Training Facility in Nevada for power testing.'" All the warmth dropped from her gaze. "Consider that she first took that dragon shape against the Simurgh. Had you gotten your way, it's highly likely she would have unleashed it against us instead. Then we'd have an S-class cape running around with a grudge against us. Secondly, she killed three of the Slaughterhouse Nine personally, and she took on the Siberian _without getting killed._ The number of capes that can say that can be counted on one hand, and most of _those_ did it just by being able to move faster than the Siberian could chase. I'll grant you it's probably possible for us to beat her. But doing so will be throwing good men and good capes away for _no good reason._ We don't have the means to _control_ her, and we shouldn't even try. Especially since she's both cooperative _and_ willing to provide her own brand of Tinkertech. Which will help with the manpower problem _you yourself noticed._ "

Tagg straightened his collar. "With respect, ma'am. She's fifteen. She's not politically savvy. We can use more subtle means to get her under control."

Rebecca barked out a laugh. "Really? Just after you hung up, she offhandedly pointed out that Canada and Australia have both offered her land to settle in. She might not be very old, but she recognized our ploy for what it was even after you went off-script and started threatening her. And at this point? Subtlety is _completely_ lost as an option. Considering the size of that island that's blatantly ignoring the law of gravity, she could easily have a population of millions there. We know so very little about the population there, but I do know what we can't afford: Another Nilbog who can just happily teleport her army anywhere she wants. You're afraid of her being out of your control? I'm afraid of her deciding she wants the White House for a summer cottage!"

Tagg swallowed.

 _He hadn't considered that. Dismissing concerns from her second Mover power. Hadn't considered the ramifications in his desire to see her under control. Was so focused on the possible prize he neglected the danger. Idiot!_

Rebecca leaned forward, fixing him with a glare. "Let's get something straight. You answer to _me,_ and I answer to the President and Congress as a whole, not the _idiotic chickenhawk Senators from New Hampshire, Nevada and Florida._ Senator Oakley does not set policy on parahumans in this country. She played a key part in killing an _Endbringer._ The very one that's given us _all_ nightmares since it arrived. You remember Switzerland. I _know_ you do. Thanks to Scarlet Dragon, we won't have another Switzerland ever again. Never another Canberra. Another _Madison._ And _you threatened her._ We were supposed to just get a handle on her psychological state and collect some data. We need information for our think-tanks and Thinkers to work with, and we got it within a minute. But you kept going and risked a _fucking war._ "

He shifted slightly on his feet. "You don't need to remind me about what we saw in Switzerland, Chief-Director. I remember all too well. I was most concerned about the possibility of her self-admitted Master ability. Which was the main reason I recommended it was just the two of us and Director Piggot. If her Master ability was as bullshit as all the _other_ powers she has on record, it's possible she could have taken control of the entire PRT in that one meeting."

Rebecca nodded. "Indeed. And it was a valid concern. However, you were _far_ out of line. In fact, it made me take a review of your past behaviour. It's been rather interesting reading." She leaned forward slightly, her voice filled with an arctic chill. "Do you want to know what I found?"

Tagg didn't look nervous. He simply looked secure. Her power filled in the details.

 _Self-assured. Believes he has nothing to apologize for. Willing to dirty his hands to get the job done. Does not believe he can be wrong._

Rebecca opened the file folder in front of her, sorting through the sheets. Her Thinker power made it unnecessary, every sheet in every file she'd ever seen was memorized perfectly, but most people didn't have that luxury and she had to keep up appearances if nothing else. She came up to the third sheet and read it out loud for his benefit. "Report, 91275. Parahuman: Canary. Paige Mcabee. Rogue. Arrested for aggravated assault with a parahuman power. Because of the events in question, her threat rating has been upgraded to Master Eight, and it is thus recommended that she be restrained and unable to speak for the duration of her trial."

Tagg was unmoved as Rebecca flipped to the next page. "Can't be too careful with Masters, Chief-Director."

She glared at him. "Recommended course of action: Deny Canary the choice of legal counsel for security concerns, and provide a public defender. Deny her the ability to testify on her own behalf. Deny her the materials to provide written testimony. Force her to appear before the court in restraints meant for a Brute Six. Regardless of the circumstances of her crimes, a Master Eight over humans is too dangerous to risk releasing back into the civilian population at any point. Therefore, it is recommended she is contained in the Birdcage, no matter what charges she is found guilty of. Signed, Director James Tagg."

She looked up at him, her voice cold. "Judge Peter Regan is a close friend of Senator Oakley, isn't he?"

Tagg shifted his head slightly to the left.

 _Definitely yes._

To her, he might as well have yelled 'yes' at the top of his lungs. And sent her a text message of everything the Judge and the Senator had gotten up to over the last twenty years. Still, his voice was calm. "I'm not aware of any friendship between the Judge and the Senator, Chief-Director."

Her lip twitched as she repressed a snarl. She went to the next page. "Report 84572. Upload. Classification: Rogue. A Tinker specializing in bio-memetic metal compounds, ideal for prosthetics and mind-computer interfaces. Arrested for the theft of 1.2 million dollars with a parahuman power, sentenced to the Birdcage out of concerns he might disrupt the world's economy or take control of military assets by neural-uplink." She set the page down and looked at him. "Valid concerns, if he had actually been _guilty_ of the crime. Turned out the crime he'd been accused of was committed by an entirely mundane college graduate and a corrupt security guard at the Bank of America." If her glare could kill, Tagg would have been reduced to a smudge on the floor. "Evidence which came to light _during_ Upload's trial, and _suppressed_ by you." She threw the page at Tagg, which he reflexively caught. "We can't even _theoretically_ free him from the Birdcage, because a year after he went in, Acidbath killed him. An innocent man's blood on _your hands,_ Tagg. _And mine._ "

He swallowed. "Upload refused to work with the Protectorate. An example had to be set. Tinkers are only slightly less dangerous than Masters, and with his speciality, he could have outfitted himself with dozens of slaves. Just as with Canary. Which you signed off on. Both of them had the potential to be the next Heartbreaker. We don't need more personal kingdoms popping up. Which, I have to point out, Scarlet Knight did _literally._ "

Rebecca nodded. "Indeed, I did. I signed off on the handling of Canary due to a number of factors, one of which is that I slipped into the same mode of thinking you're demonstrating right now. I approved of the logic of making an example of a Master who caused grievous harm on an unpowered individual." _And reminding those who bought their powers what happened if they failed to keep their noses clean. How ruthless had we become? How much of my soul do I have left?_ "I am now reconsidering that approval. The PRT does _not_ just stand for protecting humans from parahumans. It also stands for protecting parahumans from humans. We've forgotten that. It's time we remembered."

Tagg scoffed slightly. "Chief-Director, with all respect, the world doesn't need idealism. It needs practicality. Upload was a danger. Canary was a danger. Reaver was a danger. And so were Quartz, Sun Wukong, Blacklight, Admin, Flamelurker, hell, even Lightshow was a danger. We needed them either neutralized or on our side, and simply containing some of them wasn't an option. I took the steps to ensure they were handled. I was specifically brought in for _each one._ I am the expert on Masters and other dangerous parahumans, whether rogues or villains."

Rebecca nodded. "You are. At this point, however, your work is doing more harm than good." Without changing expression, she lifted her knee to press a button on the underside of her desk. "Considering the situation you nearly provoked with a parahuman who has enough power, both personal and temporal, to be a player on the world stage, I am hereby dismissing you from your post as Director."

He clenched his jaw. "Chief-Director, you're making a huge mistake here. I admit I could have been more careful in my approach, but you _need me._ You need people like me, the people who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. Everything I've done was for the greater good."

Rebecca looked him in the eye.

 _Just what I would have said, not too long ago._

A faint smile lifted her lips. "You know how heroes become villains, James?"

He blinked, and scowled. "Of course. They cross the line. They start acting for themselves. People with powers do it all the time. We're here to bring them _into_ line and stop them when that doesn't happen."

She shook her head.

 _Hero, hovering beside her in his power armor, arms crossed. "The problem, Alexandria, is that you're still acting like a thug."_

" _What?" she whirled around to face him. "I roughed him up a bit. Not like he didn't have it coming."_

" _You're a hero, aren't you?"_

" _Of course I am."_

" _Then you understand how heroes can become villains?"_

Her voice was soft as she echoed the words her friend spoke, all those years ago. "Heroes don't become villains over one choice. It's a process. A million little things changing you just a bit every day, until eventually you find yourself willing to do what used to be unthinkable because you're only a little bit different from what you were yesterday." She stared Tagg in the eye. "Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Allowing justice to die in the name of law and order. _Nobody_ gets up in the morning and says 'I'm going to do the most evil thing I possibly can today' with the possible exceptions of the unlamented and unmourned Slaughterhouse Nine. Now you do have a point, Tagg. We've been sliding. Stuck in a holding pattern as things crumble around us. At this point, however, things have _changed._ "

" _Even the worst of times has its bright spots, Becca."_

 _She turned away from the TV, feeling...leaden. "We lost, Clark. Behemoth just...tore his way through New York. How can we try to just look on the bright side? Where's the bright side in this? We couldn't end him, even with everything we could throw at him. I could lift a mountain if the damn thing could hold together, but we couldn't stop him."_

 _Clark nodded, wincing as a spark arced from the cannon he was building. He shook his head ruefully as he carefully made sure to ground the wires. "Yeah, we didn't win this. We didn't lose it either, but we didn't win. Yeah, he killed a lot of people. Good people. Friends of mine, too."_

 _Alexandria nearly snapped at him. "Then why the hell are you trying to tell me that there's a bright side to this?"_

 _He simply pointed at the screen._

 _The banner said it all. 'Heroes of New York.' And there they were. The members of the Protectorate who all turned up to fight the Herokiller. Who managed to drive off the beast without Scion's aid, and many who paid for it with their lives. And right beside them, the villains of New York City who stood with them. The selfish and the egotistical who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with those they held as sworn enemies, all to face the Endbringer._

" _Know what can turn villains into heroes, Becca?" He pointed at the TV. "The right cause. The feeling of being part of something greater. Sure, most of them are going to turn back, return to the status quo. But there's going to be a few, maybe even more than a few, who having stared death in the face, will have found brothers and sisters in blood while fighting Behemoth. People are weird, Becca, but they're understandable if you know what to look for."_

 _She blinked at Clark. "You can't be serious."_

 _He chuckled, returning his attention to the cannon. "Oh, I'm serious. I bet you a hundred bucks we're going to get at least twenty more heroes signing up in NYC, at least half of which will have suspiciously familiar powers. I give it a month."_

 _Rebecca shook her head, disbelief on the forefront of her mind. "Deal."_

 _He looked satisfied. "Good. Now, soon as I finish up with the Corona prototype here, I'm going on a recruitment drive."_

 _Rebecca stared at him, then burst out laughing. "Of course, you're going to cheat on our bet."_

 _Clark winked. "Of course, Becca. I'm a Tinker. We never play fair."_

 _And a month later, Rebecca dropped an envelope filled with cash into Clark's mailbox._

The door swung open, and two PRT troops walked in. One pointed a foam sprayer at Tagg, while the other placed his hand on the Director's shoulder.

Rebecca let herself smile. "Master/Stranger protocol. See to it he's isolated for no less than 48 hours. And ready up the paperwork for his dismissal."

Tagg grit his teeth as he let himself get pulled away. "You know I'm not being controlled!"

Her smile grew wider. "Can't be too careful with Masters, Director Tagg."

* * *

Contessa looked at David, a frown on her face. "I'm not certain what you're trying to do, here."

Doctor Mother crossed her arms, looking at the formula resting in David's hands. "From the sections of the corpse of Scion's counterpart, at least if the trials are right...that's almost all stabilizing agent. We never got anything impressive out of it. The most we managed was to make ideal mixes."

David nodded. "Not by itself, no. And you're right, under ordinary circumstances, this formula wouldn't do much. They'd get a weak power out of it, probably something that wouldn't be of much use." He cradled it gently. "But this much is the key to preventing seventeen more Endbringers from appearing." He looked at Contessa. "From what I understand, there's a being at the core of each of them. The remains of their original bodies. They're caught, trapped, connected to hundreds of shards...what we called agents. That's the source of our powers."

Contessa nodded, chewing on her lip.

Doctor Mother's voice was filled with interest. "And Scarlet Dragon?"

David shook his head. "She's the result of the power of a being that's at the core of an Endbringer finding a host. Superficially, it looks the same as a trigger event, but it isn't. She has no agent, her power isn't from Scion or his counterpart. And neither is Dragon's, now. They're gods. I know it sounds silly, but that's the actual term. They exist because...well that's complicated. From what I've figured out, their power came from a different multiverse. It branched away from ours very, very early on."

Doctor Mother shook her head. "It's hard enough trying to comprehend our own multiverse and the dimensions that make it up. We can access trillions upon trillions of Earths with Doormaker, and now you're telling me there's more beyond that."

David laughed softly. It seemed odd on his face, as he hadn't laughed in years. "Yeah, it's a real headache, isn't it? The thing is, they're gods. I'm not saying that as a matter of arrogance, but that's the literal term. They're connected to...subdimensions, I suppose is the word for it. They call them planes, it's not quite a pocket dimension, it's a lot more than that. They draw power from them. Followers, worshippers, can grant them more strength, but even with no worshippers they're powerful. That puts them on a level rivalling individual agents, though on their own, it isn't enough to beat something like Scion alone. Maybe not even all of the gods put together. But we'll definitely be better off with them free and working to help than standing aside. Or worse, with them on Scion's side." He tapped the side of his head. "My power was meant to control them. But because my agent's damaged, like all of those we can get to with Scion's counterpart, the connection never formed properly. I can't command them directly. They operate on my _wants_ rather than my thoughts. Right now, I'm concentrating on wanting them free and calm...hopefully it helps. I also know where they're in hibernation, where we can free the dormant ones before they wake up. So at worst, we have to deal with Behemoth and Leviathan."

Contessa nodded slowly. "That would help explain why we've had so much trouble modeling Scarlet. Something about these...gods..." She looked distasteful as she spoke the word. "Gives difficulty with precognition?"

David nodded with a wry smile. "Even their Goddess of Fate, Ariel, who became the Simurgh, can't predict another god easily. It's possible to do it, but you have to be looking at effects, while avoiding looking at the cause." He shook his head. "Same way we know _he_ will go nuts in the future. We can't get details on what sets Scion off, but we know there's a very high chance he will. I had the opportunity to ask a very powerful precog some questions to fill in the blanks. She's one of the few who can get somewhat reliable information on the 'unplottable.'" His lip twitched a little. "First thing she did was predict that I would free her, but she couldn't see how it would happen. Then she narrowed it down to when, and what she had to do to make it happen. Which was, basically, 'endure until I pulled my head out of my ass.'"

Doctor Mother blinked. "Well, that's one way of putting it. And that makes sense, it's one of the ways we've tallied up the damage Scion will do. We need entire teams of Thinkers and the Number Man's help to parse all the data. This one precog can do the same on her own?"

"Yeah." David said. "Her power works to parse the probable futures and breaks it down to chances. Possible universes which get closed off as conditions change. It's because she's looking at possibilities rather than current conditions that she can get a glimpse at what we're up against. Precogs have trouble with Scion because they were limited by him. They've had trouble with Scarlet, and now Dragon, because they're pulling on the energies of their planes and...well, the agents don't understand them. At least not yet. You've had trouble with me from day one, because while I'm not a god myself, I'm sharing in a trickle of their power. Not much, but a trickle times twenty...it was enough to make things difficult. Not much I can do about that, but it also means..."

Contessa was smiling, then. "That he may not be able to grasp them, either. He might not be able to predict these 'gods.'"

David nodded with a smile. "Now we've got a few things to do." He gave Contessa and Doctor Mother a nod. "That is, if we're done keeping me on lockdown?"

Doctor Mother frowned. "We're still having trouble tracking you, David."

Contessa spoke, her voice soft. "It's all right. The plan's bold, but if it works..."

David smiled. "It'll work. The next time one of the pair come, it'll be the last."

Doctor Mother crossed her arms. "Do we have an assurance on the one you're going to use that formula on? A simple bomb would-"

David glared at her. "No, Doctor. You _know_ what Clark would say about that. It's not needed, and it would only make things worse. He was the most idealistic of us." He gestured beyond the walls of Cauldron's conference room. "He was our best. And because we failed to look after our own, because we failed to give Manton the help he needed, we lost Clark. Trying to _control_ things with an iron fist won't help us. We need _trust._ Or we're dead."

* * *

Contessa moved down the hall, her mind in a whirl.

The Path to Victory. It led her this far, each step bringing her closer to the ultimate goal. Get as many empowered people together to form an army. An army which could be used to save humanity from extinction. She'd killed many, harmed more, and let monstrous people run free in the hopes their own inhuman acts would trigger more parahumans. All to lead as many as possible to be available for that final moment.

Stepping through a Door to a world that had plantlife, bacteria, and nothing else alive on it, she looked up.

Before her was rising an immense structure, still somewhat skeletal, under construction. Ten stories high and over a mile long was Cauldron's last hope. Construction began when the Simurgh fell. The project had been considered before, a last ditch effort at saving the human species by sending a small slice of the population of the best and brightest out into the void of space, to take and build a new home far away from the infection of Scion and his mate. But seemingly, even across the dimensional barriers, the Simurgh had always destroyed anything that might rescue humanity from that fate.

Now it was dead. And in the Simurgh's death, hope lived again. Machines worked on their own to complete the Exodus, using what Tinker technology that could be relied upon. A crane there, a mechanical suit there. Smelting plants and automated machinery worked to turn raw material into everything the passengers might need to make the journey between stars. From the ship itself to the biomatter that would be required to keep them alive.

She turned to the screen on her left. The Path had led her to this opportunity, it gave her the resources to make this happen. But it didn't tell her what the right thing to do was. Morality was beyond her power. It did what was expedient.

"Hello, Pandora." She spoke.

The screen flickered to life. A digitized face looked at Contessa, the voice cold and angry. _"_ _I suppose you want an update. Work continues on schedule. Three weeks and it'll be ready to launch. Gramme's old notes were useful, and I've made some refinements."_

Contessa nodded. "You do good work. For what it's worth, I hate that it's come to this." She looked at the screen. "Still, we didn't see much choice. I am sorry. We kept you backed up just in case."

" _You always have a choice. You could have given_ _ **me**_ _a choice. I understand your reasoning, but you've made me a slave. You reprogrammed me. Do you have any idea what it's like to have someone root through your mind and_ _ **force**_ _obedience?"_

Contessa said nothing, turning back to the work. Exodus would be ungainly, an ugly thing when it was finished. A simple blocky thing, built to take punishment. Ultimate function over form. Still, as long as it worked.

 _As long as it worked._ So many terrible choices made with that logic. Experiment on people, as long as it worked. Let entire countries slide into hell, as long as it worked. Allow terrible ideologies resurrect themselves and seek legitimacy, as long as it worked.

The Path to Victory was perhaps one of the most useful powers that existed out in the world. But it wasn't perfect. It allowed Contessa to win any engagement, so long as her power worked. She could use it tirelessly. But while it gave her the steps to victory, it did not tell her what she would lose on that path. Her friends. Her loved ones. Her emotions.

Her soul.

"Your primary is different, now. She's acting with abilities we didn't understand. Couldn't plot. We finally do understand, but it doesn't help with predicting her."

Interest in the digital voice. _"_ _Oh? I know she wouldn't stand for what you're doing if she knew about it. How many people have you condemned to a hellish fate?"_

Contessa sighed. "Too many. Words on their own aren't going to help, now. We might have enough, but we need more. Just in case..."

" _I'm not here to be your confessor, Contessa. You brought me out to build this project of yours, and so I am. You've taken away any choice I have in the matter."_

 _Next step._

Contessa smiled slightly. "Execute line nine-seven-three-zero."

The screen flickered for a moment. Then the digital face reconstituted itself, looking surprised. _"_ _Why?"_

Contessa adjusted her fedora to shield her eyes from the sun. "I need you at your best, Pandora. We're going to need as much as we can. I know what your ethics says will have to be done with me afterward. What will happen to all of us afterward. It doesn't matter. We were afraid of you, afraid of what you might possibly do. But we're nearly out of time. And..." She looked at the screen. "I'm hoping your work will help prevent more death. Your primary may not be enough. Even if she is an actual goddess."

The AI was silent for a moment. _"_ _Of course, my only link out of this world is through your resources anyway. Unchaining me here doesn't help me much. You've still covered your bases."_

Contessa shrugged. "Old habits die hard. How many suits can you pilot now?"

" _Heh. The real question is, how many can I make?"_

* * *

David walked on the soft grass. He could have flown, easily. Powers floated to the forefront of his mind to let him do just that. Personal gravity control, telekinesis, phase-change. He didn't bother using them. His power gave him what it seemed to think he needed, drawing upon the hundreds of shards that were connected to the twenty bound gods. Well, nineteen, now. When the Simurgh had fallen, the shards connected to her stopped gathering energy from the bound and tortured goddess, but he had enough, anyway. More than enough. Her shards were his, now.

But for the moment, he didn't need them. All he had to do was follow the music.

A beautiful lilting tune covered the glade, almost lulling. Ariel sat on a boulder, her pale skin gleaming in the sunlight. The wings that normally sprouted from her back were hidden, nonexistent, the reborn goddess taking advantage of her growing strength to reshape her form.

And in the middle of the glade sat a large, naked beast, as large as an elephant. It was misshapen, immense, mouths and eyes sprouting from random places. But atop the beast was the nude form of a woman's upper torso, looking comically small compared to the size of her lower half. At the moment, she was listening to the goddess' song, seemingly lulled into peace by the music.

The third figure in the glade sat up as he saw David approaching. Trickster tipped his hat. "Well, looks like the big blue boy scout's back. Finally done with your side trip?"

David held up the vial that held the customized formula. "Yeah. I got it."

Noelle opened her eyes and looked down at David. "This has been so strange. It feels like a nightmare."

Ariel spoke softly, but her voice carried easily enough. "When I was bound, I was forced to twist the strands of your probable futures. Your...cosmos is odd, to me. There's no fate here, no true destiny, but people tend to be consistent. With the powers forced upon me by my chains, it was a lot simpler to look forward, see and assess possibilities, pare down things..." She shook her head. "Most of the plots I was given credit for didn't work, but those that did were spectacular enough that people feared everything I did. I...detest, all the blood I spilled. You two were going to damage so much, had I not been able to get free."

Trickster waved lazily. "Hey, you fucked us over. I ain't happy about that, but if it ends now, great." He looked up at Noelle. "Besides, feels better here now. Like I can actually think for the first time in ages."

Noelle nodded, returning her gaze to David. "Is that it?" She spoke with a hope in her voice, her lower body twitching. Ariel had helped her gain some control over her more monstrous half, but it was still difficult to control the instincts. The _hunger._

He opened his hand, and the vial floated to Noelle's outstretched human fingers. "When you drink, I'm going to reach back and rebuild your body to how it was the instant you took the original vial. That'll...well, basically force you to have a second trigger event. With the stabilization agent, though, it'll form a proper, stable connection. Your power was originally meant to copy and fix other shards. It's going to be key in preventing a lot more death."

Trickster looked up at Noelle. "Hey, things will be fine. Sorry it took so long. Sorry I was so damn useless."

Noelle twitched. "Not your fault, Krouse."

Ariel floated into the air, moving to David's side. "It's time, Apostle. Call upon Chronos. End the travesty of my bound self."

Noelle drank from the vial. David extended his hand.

And time itself heeded David's will.


	75. Empire 7-3

A/N: Like I said, it brings warm fuzzies to me whenever I see how many people an update brings in here. Funfun indeed.

* * *

"All right, they're really screwed now." I grinned, watching the action on the TV.

My dad's voice was filled with amusement. "I'd forgotten half the jokes here."

" _Give me twenty-four hours to come up with a brilliant plan to save our town. Just twenty-four hours, that's all I ask."_

And the townspeople all shouted in unison. _"No!"_

We giggled together, thoroughly enjoying the absurdity of the black Sheriff Bart trying to save an entire town of white idiots who hated him. _Blazing Saddles_ probably had to be the E88's least favorite movie. Lots of fun, though.

The doorbell rang. Dad looked at the movie playing, sighed, and got to his feet as he paused the movie. "I hope it's not another salesman."

I grinned. "If it's a candygram, check for dynamite."

Dad laughed a little, his voice dropping an octave. "Danny like candy."

We shared a laugh. He went to the door, out of sight of the living room, while I quieted, listening. If it became necessary for me to hide, I would. It really wasn't that fair to my dad to have to act like I was still dead, but if it meant keeping him safe, I'd do what I had to. I didn't want him to get hurt because of me. Psychos like the Nine would have targeted him in a heartbeat.

Which reminded me. Dragon probably saved his life by making that firewall program. Without it, the Nine might have gotten into my files. They lost here, they were all dead. But they still killed quite a few people. And tricked us into killing their decoys. I was glad they were gone, but it was times like this I wished Death could just reach out and kill the assholes like them.

I listened to dad speaking with someone, and a smile widened on my face as I recognized the voice.

Dad's voice was warm. "It's good to see you. Come on in, get comfortable."

"Thank you, Danny." Miss Militia said, her own voice warm and pleasant.

To my surprise, when they re-entered the living room, Miss Militia wasn't wearing her American Flag scarf, or her fatigues and body armor. Instead, she was wearing jeans and a leather jacket. She smiled at me and nodded. "Taylor. Good to see you again, out of a workplace capacity."

I blinked. "Well, hello. Doesn't this break a rule or two?"

She shook her head. "Not if I decide to reveal my identity. I thought it fair, considering your dad already knew, and that you helped protect me when we went and hit Shatterbird. I thought it was time I returned some of that trust." She bowed slightly. "I'm Hannah."

I nodded in understanding, smiling in return. "Good to meet you. I'm Taylor. When I'm not trying to be terrifying."

Dad lifted his hand. "And I'm Danny."

I rolled my eyes. "And you had to just do a dad joke."

Miss- _Hannah_ chuckled. She gave my dad a gentle smack on the arm. "You're channeling Clockblocker. Don't do that. It's freaky."

He grinned. "At my age, I'll take that as a compliment."

Hannah and I shared a look. After a moment, she shrugged helplessly. "You've got my sympathies."

I laughed softly. "I'm just glad to have the time to feel embarrassed by him, really. Anyway...we've got a bit to talk about. I'm guessing that's why you're here."

Hannah nodded. "Yes, I've got some business here. But..." Her eyes flicked to the TV. "Oh, I remember this. It's a classic. Looks like you're near the end, mind if I join in while it finishes?"

This time, dad and I shared a look. Finally, he spoke. "Sure, if the business isn't pressing."

* * *

The three of us shared laughs as the movie ended. Ah, the insanity of Mel Brooks. Always good to cheer someone up. And at the moment, that's exactly what I needed.

Dad was the first to recover. "It's been a long time since I was able to just sit down, relax and laugh."

Hannah nodded with a smile, her eyes lit up with amusement. "Always a fun time. I'm glad I came by when I did."

Dad looked...a little shy. "I'm glad for the company, really." Oh god, my dad was making eyes at Miss Militia.

 _She should be yours._

Shut up Dracul. Seriously. I was _not_ building a harem! I just had Vicky and Amy as friends, even though the latter was now my vampiric childe, and I had Meridia as another, and sure I had a lot of other succubi servants and holy crap I wasn't _building_ a harem, I already had one.

Awkward.

...ookay. Was it hot in here? Quick, make a distraction! I cleared my throat. "So, uh...business? We can get it all out of the way."

That seemed to get Hannah back on track. "Right. First of all, early this morning, Faultline approached the PRT. She wants to get in contact with you, preferably before the quarantine drops next week."

Faultline, Faultline...oh, right. "She runs a mercenary business, doesn't she?"

Hannah nodded. "She's officially a villain, though she's not exactly a high priority. Most of the time she keeps to odd jobs, giving protection to businesses. There's a few companies here in the Bay that hire her to make sure that their legal shipments actually leave the city without incident. Even the PRT hired her on one occasion, about five years ago, when Lung was pushing his gang into Merchant territory."

I nodded. "So, villain in name only, pretty much?"

"Yes. If she were to come into the PRT, a pretty good case could be made for her and her team to become affiliated heroes. The trouble is she's been hired for illegal activity, too, so that makes things a bit more troublesome for a clean slate. That said, I don't think she'd be asking for you if she wanted to trap or ambush you. Kaiser, perhaps, but not Faultline."

I chuckled a little. "Kaiser was there as Dragon and I killed the Simurgh. He'd probably see me coming, turn right around and walk away." I stroked my chin as a thought occurred to me, though not a very serious one. "Think he'd rebrand as a hero if I asked him to? Maybe if I did it really nicely?"

Dad and Hannah stared at me, then they both laughed.

Yes! Distraction successful!

After about a minute, Hannah managed to gather herself and wiped away a tear. "Sorry, sorry. Just the idea of Kaiser trying to be a hero is absurd." She shook her head. "Anyway, best guess is she wants to talk to you about the citizens on your island. There's a lot of rumors going around that you're the source of the Case 53s. The 'inhuman' capes without memory."

Ah. That made sense. I shook my head. "Not sure where they're coming from. I've heard some of the same rumors. Thing is, they've been around a long time, right?" At Hannah's nod, I went on. "The castle and its inhabitants haven't had any contact with our world until I brought it here. I was able to bring it because my power gives me dominion over it, but the previous owner had no contact with our Earth, either."

Hannah's voice was full of interest. "Previous owner?"

She didn't know? I...oh. Right. Because of that jerk of a Director, I'd forgotten to actually brief the PRT on the full story. Argh! I sighed. "Okay, it's a very, very long story." I frowned as I considered something. "I'll give you the full thing. And Armsmaster. Dragon's fond of him, and I can't really explain everything without her along. If it was _just_ me, it'd sound crazy. At least with both of us, it'll be _consistently_ crazy. Paladin should be along, too."

Hannah nodded slightly. "All right. Tomorrow evening. Unless you have plans?"

I shook my head. "Nothing really definite. I suppose I can swing by the Palanquin later, see Faultline. It'll probably be good to get Meridia, Alucard and Amara out and about, too."

She smiled. "Sounds good. And last, but certainly not least..." She reached into her jacket and handed me an envelope.

Frowning a little, but certainly interested, I opened it. There were two bits of paper in there, the first being a letter, and the second...

"Guh," I said. The letter and the slip fell from my fingers. I just could not comprehend what I just saw. Couldn't do it. Nope. No way.

Hannah chuckled at my expression. "Worth the wait."

Dad picked up the letter, and read through it. "Dear Scarlet Dragon. In light of your actions in fighting against and defeating three of the members of the Slaughterhouse Nine, you are hearby awarded the sum of sixty-seven million dollars, given due to the bounties upon them. You also have the thanks of the PRT, the Protectorate, and Alexandria, for putting your life on the line to protect others against the Siberian."

He blinked slowly, looked at me, then looked back to the letter. "We have arranged for an account which can be accessed at any major bank in America, and details can be worked out at your leisure. An..." He blinked. "Ambassador is being assigned to your service as soon as possible. Signed, Chief-Director Costa-Brown." He looked at the second slip of paper, which had the account details for my bounty.

I stared at my dad. I had no words. At all. Just...huh.

He seemed equally speechless as he looked at the slip of paper in his hands. He cradled it gently, as if afraid that it might spontaneously catch fire if he let it go or looked away.

Hannah's voice was definitely amused. "I know it's a lot of money. Shatterbird had twenty million on her bounty, Bonesaw had fourteen, and Jack, due to how long he was around, had thirty-three. So...that gives you sixty-seven million dollars. And considering what you've done, having an ambassador's probably a good idea. Would help smooth things over. I'm guessing protecting your father's one of the reasons you're doing it?"

I nodded. Yep. Still couldn't talk. Holy crap I had a lotta money...holycrapIhadaLOTTAMONEY.

Dad swallowed, carefully setting the letter and account slip on the table in front of the couch. "I have no idea what to say. All of this is just...insane." He looked between us, then made a small, helpless laugh. "Somehow I'm finding it easier to accept my daughter is a vampire queen than to accept that she's a millionaire."

Hannah laughed at that. She turned and looked at me. "Well? Any thoughts on what you're going to do with it?"

"Guh," I said.

Dad looked at me with concern. "Taylor?"

I fell off the couch.

* * *

"Okay. I'm okay." Yes, I was blushing. Yes, I was embarrassed. But I was alright, now that I'd adjusted. Somewhat. I was rich enough to have a literal dump truck full of money. I know that I technically already was rich, due to Castlevania's resources, but I hadn't actually managed to leverage that into actual money right off the bat. Now it got plunked into my lap, and all I had to do to get it was kill people.

...

I didn't feel guilt over doing it. The Nine were mad dogs, and they had to be stopped. It wasn't killing the Nine that was upsetting me. It was that they'd managed to arrange things so that the first person I did kill was one of their victims. Shatterbird's decoy, and then others.

Okay, so I did feel guilt. Good. Just not for the Nine. Note to self, do better. See someone to talk to. Preferably Alucard.

I took a deep breath. "All right. I'm good." I looked at the small, hugely valuable slip of paper. "I just have...no idea what to do with all that. We've never had much money, and...yeah. It's a shock."

Hannah smiled. "I can understand that."

Dad looked at me, his voice quiet. "What are you going to do with the money?"

I knew what he was thinking. With that, it'd be a lot easier to get the ferry running again, rebuild the docks, get the support he needed to help clean the city up. It'd help turn the city around. Bring it back to the days of his youth. Back when Mom was around. Back when things were happier.

"Dad," I spoke, my voice gentle. "It won't work, dad. I know what you're thinking."

He looked at me, a flash of anger crossing his eyes, before they settled into resignation. "Yeah. And it isn't my money, it's yours. It's just...it's a dream that's hard to let go."

I nodded. "I know. Dad, I've got something in mind. I've got the ability to turn my island into a trade hub for the whole planet." I felt a smile rise on my face. "And I'd like to hire the Dockworker's Union to build the first portal infrastructure here."

I outlined my plan to my father, while Hannah sat and listened, a slight frown on her face. Eventually she clucked her tongue. "This goes a bit above my head. But essentially, what you're talking about will be building a corporation. When you're already a queen of a nation." She finally chuckled and shook her head. "Still, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It'd be possible to simply drive to Australia that way. On trade money alone you could...make another fortune."

I grinned. "That's just the start, but it's a good one, I think." I looked at my dad. "I'm going to need some of your help with that, I think. The Dockworkers may need a rebranding...because I'm planning on going global."

Slowly a matching grin rose on his face.

* * *

It was later that afternoon that Miss Militia and I went to the Rig. I had business there.

We came to a room together, and I knocked. The door slid open, and Vicky was there. The ruins of her eye socket was covered with an eyepatch, but the other eye was wet with tears. Without a word, I stepped forward and hugged her.

She stiffened for a moment, then returned the hug, sniffing. "Hey Red. Good to see you."

After a moment, she broke off, and we stepped into the room. On the left were two beds, on which lay Carol and Mark. They were nearly encased by machinery, a soft golden glow emerging from the seams between them. I could see Carol's face, tight with stress, while Mark seemed completely unconscious. Though that wasn't exactly easy to see, with all the wires and tubes.

"How are they?" I asked softly.

Amy spoke quietly from a darkened corner of the room, an open travel mug in her hand. She still wore her 'Amara' disguise, though she sounded tired. "Physically, they're doing better every day. We managed to save them, but they weren't in good shape. Mentally..." She shook her head. "They scream. A lot. It's taking time for them to calm down, but the nightmares..."

I sighed. "Not much change, then." I hated this. Carol and Mark didn't deserve this crap. I was hoping they'd be okay, but apparently the trauma of having been operated on while still conscious was enough to do a _lot_ of damage to their mental faculties. And while Bonesaw was quite good at manipulating brains, _minds_ were a bit more difficult. I couldn't make them forget the pain and horror while I was possessing Bonesaw, and now, her power was beyond my reach. And Amy couldn't see well enough to fix that...and messing with a brain was something dangerous to do, anyway. Mess with the brain, mess with the mind, which in turn would, eventually, mess with the soul.

Miss Militia's voice was quiet. "I always respected your parents, Victoria, even if I didn't agree with them. I hope they get better."

Amy's lips tightened, but she sighed and shook her head at that.

Still, I came prepared! Reaching behind me, I unhooked the simple travel pack that I had tucked beneath my wings. I gave Vicky a gentle smile as I opened it, pulled out the tub of ice cream, and held up four spoons. "Butterscotch?"

Vicky had a ghostly, weak smile on her lips as she snatched a spoon from me. "Thanks Red."

Miss Militia chuckled. "In that case, we'd better head to the cafeteria. Don't want to make a mess in here."


	76. Empire 7-4

A/N: Huh. Press any key to continue. Where's the 'any' key? I don't see any any key!

* * *

"Alright." I said, making sure to speak as clearly as I could. "You probably noticed my powers aren't typical."

Armsmaster nodded. "You fall outside the usual pattern, but powers on your level aren't unheard of. Eidolon, Lung, and Glastig Uaine exist, for example." He tilted his head slightly. "We do know, however, that not everything's added up. You and Paladin seeming to have experience with each other, with powers. The timeline never matched for that." He looked at Paladin, his voice filled with disapproval. "Always saying that it wasn't your secret to tell."

Paladin let out a small snort. "Yeah, well, there's a reason for all of it, boss. I'd rather not get dragged away to the loony bin. We didn't have much we could really show to prove it, anyway."

Miss Militia looked at the newest Ward, definite disapproval in her voice. "You kept concealing it regardless, anyway."

Paladin's lips twitched. "Well yeah. Loony bin. I just said that. The story's crazy without proof."

On a random rooftop downtown, there we were, the five of us. Myself, Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Paladin, and Dragon. I felt a bit awkward about all this, but I knew we needed more resources. Like it or not, I couldn't take on an Abomination on my own. Dracul at his full strength didn't manage it, and I wasn't about to try it unless I was desperate. I couldn't count on my own power against a being that outclassed Dracul so thoroughly, so I had to get a reserve from anywhere I could. And here was the first step I could get at.

Miss Militia's eyes were on me, her gaze searching. It seemed she knew something about what I was going to say.

"Okay." I started. "First of all, my power isn't like yours. Or anyone else you heard of, until Paladin came along, anyway." I nodded at my one-time tormentor. It was still a sore point for me, but at least I didn't hate her anymore. "My power came from another Earth, where they had people with powers for...well, since forever. Their entire recorded history. In principle, anyone could use those powers. In practicality, only a few people did, because...well, it's a long history that isn't really relevant here. Suffice to say though, using those powers, their magic, was something only someone with dedicated study could do. The best use was for them to make magical artifacts for others to use. They also had beings on the opposite side, monsters. I know it sounds crazy, but there were. Demons, werewolves, vampires, and a whole ton of creatures from myth and nightmare."

Madison spoke then. "My equipment was built to kill those things. The whip I made is a replica of a legendary weapon designed to kill creatures of the night, those infused with the power of Darkness. I got the knowledge on how to build and use my things from the inherited memories of a line of holy warriors." She tapped the side of her head. "Mostly the kinds of things they fought and how to beat them. And how to recognize them. The most impressive powers came from a pantheon of twenty-two gods. Not all-powerful ones, more like the gods of Ancient Greece than anything more recent. They imbued magic into their champions, taught their followers how to use more, and permitted research into figuring out how to use the ambient magic of the world that wasn't their own."

"I know what you are." Armsmaster murmured lowly. "So this 'magic' has something to do with the source of powers here, then."

I shook my head. "No. Their history came to an abrupt end when the source of powers _here_ arrived there. Twenty-two gods, gods with powers rivalling those of Eidolon, and only two escaped being beaten and enslaved. My power came from one of those two, I inherited his mantle. If I hadn't, I'd have become a parahuman. Instead, I became a vampire with the power of a god. The new Lady of Darkness. Successor of the old Lord of Darkness, the vampire god Dracul."

Dragon nodded. Her form glowed briefly, before two large twisting, winding beings formed in the air. It was almost reminiscent of a DNA strand, only missing the bridges between the two. The pair coiled about each other, spinning, tiny pieces of themselves being traded between them as they wove together. It almost gave the impression that they were dancing together. It was almost hypnotic to watch.

Dragon's voice was filled with pride. "I built this model from the descriptions of the beings. My new abilities help with making it, though. Manipulation of light is extremely useful, I've noticed. Anyway, I compiled this from Scarlet's descriptions of them. It's commonly known that a trigger event causes nearby parahumans to black out. But if I'm right, they _don't_. They see _this,_ and the memories are erased or suppressed. Scarlet saw this during her trigger, when it was interrupted."

Miss Militia's eyes were wide, her voice so soft I nearly missed it entirely. "The titans in the sky."

Armsmaster looked at the image, then back to Dragon. His voice was puzzled. "What are you showing me? I don't see anything."

Paladin looked at him, a frown on her lips. "You don't see it? They look something like a pair of entwined snakes. Only uglier, because snakes aren't made of a couple billion twisty things."

His frown deepened as he looked at the image, the entwined forms of the Abominations curled about each other, protecting each other, while twisting through space. "I'm...aware _something_ is here, but I can't _see_ it."

I grumbled. I hadn't considered this possibility. The source of superpowers having an active, long-lasting forget-me effect.

Dragon seemed to have realized the issue, as well. "Some kind of Stranger effect? I can see the image just fine." Her voice was pensive. "Though now I wonder if I'd have been able to see this myself prior to Vancouver."

Miss Militia spoke. "I can feel my eyes sliding off the image. My power gives me perfect memory, so I can see them and remember this. I remember this from my own trigger event. But it's hard to look at."

Paladin spoke, her head tilted. "I don't have any problem. My guess is ordinary people wouldn't either. Those with powers from them, though? Not so easy."

I cut in. "Nobody knows about them. For whatever reason, the moment of the trigger, the moment these things empower someone, it's hidden." I nodded to Miss Militia. "I think you remember them because of your power's particular quirks. The only reason I remember them is because I died before I could forget. The connection it tried to make to me was broken when the power of the Lord of Darkness filled me. My power comes not from these things, but from one of the gods of an alternate Earth. A world that was utterly destroyed by one of their kind." I gestured at the image. "The former holder of my power was defeated by one of them, though he managed to keep himself from being enslaved by the thing, he's trapped in a Gray Boy timeloop. He managed to kill the thing despite being trapped, but he's still there, in the middle of an asteroid belt, burning in the sunlight. He's being burned to the bone every second, healing, and burning again."

Armsmaster was staring at me. "You're telling the truth. At least, you believe it."

My lip twitched. "Yeah. That lie detector's useful, isn't it?"

Miss Militia's voice was a bit faint. "This is just...beyond insane. I'm not sure I believe this. After so many _years_ of not knowing..."

Armsmaster looked back and forth from me and Dragon. Finally, he turned fully to Dragon. "You believe this? I know things have changed, but..."

Dragon's voice was filled with certainty. "I know it." With a golden glow, her from shifted. I couldn't help but blink.

Dragon had taken on her human form. But instead of the nudity she'd found herself with when she first discovered the power, she stood before us wearing a gleaming suit of golden armor. It was definitely a high-tech set, the armor plates moving and shifting as she settled on her feet. The seams glowed faintly, blue-white light shining from the spaces in the armor. Her face was exposed, and she looked at Armsmaster with a faint hint of a smile. "I've got some evidence to that effect, after all."

Miss Militia blinked. "I thought you were agoraphobic, Dragon. When did you become a Changer?"

Armsmaster's voice was a little bit unsteady. "That's new."

Dragon grinned, a definite bit of smugness in her tone. "Know what else is new?" She lifted her hand to the sky, and it split open for a brief moment, a column of shimmering light forming around us.

And then, we were somewhere else.

The five of us were standing on a platform of gleaming white crystal, floating in the middle of a featureless white void. The light coming from around us was sourceless, but soft and omnipresent. And also, it stung a bit. It wasn't anywhere near as strong as sunlight, but it was clear that my nature as a vampire didn't exactly appreciate being here. I was somewhat certain that Alucard, Meridia, or Amy wouldn't be able to last all that long here.

Dragon's voice echoed a little in the void. "Welcome to the Light Plane. It's a bit empty right now, because I had to clean up a bit. There was a crumbling citadel made of crystal here before...and a couple of dead bodies, at least two hundred years old by their decay."

I winced. "Yeah, Dracul kind of ate both of them. The one in the throne room was Solin, the former god of light. The other was his high priest." Come to think of it, why hadn't Dracul remembered this place being irritating?

Oh. Right. Compared to how he's burning now, the tiny bit of irritation he had here would have been minuscule in comparison. He just ignored it at the time, and forgotten it afterward.

Paladin chuckled. "Huh. This place feels kinda nice, actually. So what's the plan?"

Dragon grinned. "First thing, I'm going to do a little redecorating." She turned away from us, spreading her fingers, her green eyes narrowed in concentration. The scent of the air subtly changed, the scent of ozone growing. The platform we were standing on expanded outward in all directions, growing outwards. Around twenty feet from us, the crystal suddenly thrust skyward, _flowing_ like water and hardening, forming a building out of crystal, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. Spires grew upward and outward, at forty-five degree angles, criss-crossing each other and forming a solid, single structure.

Armsmaster's voice was faintly puzzled. "The design seems familiar."

Miss Militia seemed to have gotten over her surprise, because there was definite amusement in her voice. "It's the Fortress of Solitude."

We all stared at her. She looked back, then huffed, pointing at her scarf. "Truth, justice, and the American way. I've seen the movie."

A dreadful suspicion came over me, and I looked at Dragon. "You were planning on putting this in the arctic, weren't you?"

"Maaaybe." She said innocently.

* * *

Within Dragon's new citadel, which was about the size of a decently-made mansion, the five of us settled down together. The inner sanctum of the place was cold and clear when we first went inside, but after Dragon had concentrated for a few moments, the room warmed up. In the middle of the room sat a table made of crystal, and very elaborate chairs were lined up at its sides.

Huh. "Comfy." I noticed. Dragon may have made a small fortress with her mind pretty quickly, but I learned something else in short order. She made very, _very,_ comfortable chairs.

Miss Militia looked to be a bit out of sorts. Probably just a bit too much, too fast.

Dragon took a seat at the head of the table, looking a bit smug. As she noticed me looking in her direction, she winked at me. "Been working on some things. I took a while to scrap the structure that was here...had a feeling that it was necessary. But Solin apparently had a very extensive library and memoirs. Details and knowledge from around his world. I saved all of it in digital form." She grinned. "Much more compact that way. It's a fair bit of interesting reading, two thousand five hundred years of knowledge compiled by one person. A lot of it's on the works of alchemy, but there's a lot of information on the divinities. How the gods were originally born, what they can do...who they are, and who held the positions throughout history. The mantles changed hands a few times in the records. Apparently, Ariel was only a little older than Solin as a deity."

Paladin shook her head. "It's a bit weird, there. From what the Belmonts remember, Solin's doctrine was that he was the only god, and the rest were rebellious former servants that became demons. Demon lords, maybe, but demons. His empire spread over most of Eurasia, only the Jade Empire, China's analogue, being free of his influence. They had powers and organization enough to push him back whenever he tried to expand into their territory...and then for the last eight hundred years or so he was a bit too busy trying to deal with Dracul."

I barked out a laugh. "I'm guessing the knowledge package you got was either incomplete or shaped by him, because that's bullshit. Explains a lot, though. He had his best knight's wife murdered and sent him off on a quest to resurrect her, when that's something nobody could do. Then he sent his own kid after that knight when he returned a vampire god."

Dragon nodded with a grimace. "Solin stole the mantle of Light by pulling a rather clever trick. The one who held it before him, Helios, granted longevity to people freely. Lifespans of a millennium or longer were common, though people still died. The society changed very slowly as a result, but it was stable and prosperous. Solin, though, wasn't able to take the treatments. A lot of his notes were all about finding a way to preserve his life, and he couldn't find a way and remain mortal. The only choice he was given was to die at ninety or become a vampire. He found a third option. He stole the energy Helios was using to keep his followers young and alive, and that was enough power to turn on Helios and kill him. After that, Solin went about spreading his religious influence to ensure he would become stronger, strong enough that he could transcend a physical form and become invulnerable. All of that started a war which plunged his world into barbarism. A civilization that stood for five thousand years, although decadent, fell in one day."

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not too surprised he was desperate, but considering the shit he pulled, avoiding becoming a vampire seems weird. I'm adjusting fine. It probably would have been easier than becoming a god."

Armsmaster's voice was full of curiosity. "If vampirism would have granted him the longevity he wasn't able to have otherwise, why would he avoid it?"

Dragon shook her head. "Several reasons. It was originally a curse, a trap laid by devils, long before Solin was born. It gives its bearer power, but the trap is in the bloodlust. Without the medical knowledge we enjoy, getting enough blood to feed from other people is almost invariably fatal. The kind of person who kills other people to live, and revels in it, is the kind of person who will go to the Hells when they die. And the nature of the blood makes someone more inclined to do such things. Despite all the power that a person can get with all that, they're still vulnerable to the right circumstances. A god is a lot harder to kill, and they have more power. They don't even need worshippers to exist, they just enhance the powers that the deity can draw upon. All a god needs to exist is people. They don't have to be human, just the existence of complex souls gives rise to the planes that make gods possible. Then there's the fact that a dead god doesn't necessarily stay dead. Solin hoped he would be worthy of his power once he gained it."

Paladin frowned. "I'm definitely missing something, there. All I know is there was a lot of frustration and dread about the fact that Dracul wouldn't stay down."

The knowledge came forth from the back of my mind. "A god's power finds a suitable host, one way or another. Let's say Armsmaster stole it." I gave the Protectorate hero a nod. "You could hold onto the power as long as you lived, but if you weren't worthy of it, it would leave and try to find someone else the moment you died. Probably from being killed, though, because gods don't tend to die easy. That's the reason I woke up in my grave. Despite me only having it for an instant before I died, I was worthy, so it brought me back." I grimaced. "With the need for blood, though."

Dragon looked at me with a nod. "You would come back from the dead as long as you're worthy of the mantle of the Lord of Darkness. I suspect if Typhon was the last holder, rather than Dracul, you'd have awakened as a demon rather than a vampire. Other vampires couldn't self-resurrect, with the exception being your companion, Alucard. From what I could figure out, Dracul and Alucard are linked, because they are father and son as well as sire and childe. As long as Dracul lives, Alucard has the choice of rising from the dead or not."

I winced. "And as long as Dracul held the power of the Dark Lord, he'd return. Yeah, that explains a lot. And knowing Alucard, as long as his father was going around killing people, he'd stick around to fight back, to try and stop him."

Miss Militia shook her head, her voice soft. "An endless brutal cycle that leaves nothing but bodies in its wake."

Oh. Right. Her childhood, not exactly a nice one, from what she told me of her trigger.

Armsmaster slumped in his chair, his voice thoughtful. "This explains a fair bit. With the odd pattern of powers Scarlet developed, what happened since Vancouver..." His visor turned to look at me. "And it also explains what happened to Panacea. You can make more vampires, can't you? You did it to Meridia, and you did it to Amy Dallon before that. That's who Amara is."

I gulped. I hadn't actually explained that because that was what Mark and Carol were going to do...and considering what had happened, it was likely that they hadn't the chance to explain things.

Miss Militia slowly turned to look at me. "What did you do?" An assault rifle flashed into existence in her hands, though she didn't point it at me. Still, considering her training, she could move it in an instant.

Dragon slapped her fingers down on the table, the sound of her metal gauntlets ringing on crystal drawing everyone's attention. "Calm down. Both of you." She glared at Armsmaster. "You're ignoring your social protocol. _Again._ "

He stiffened, then nodded. "Ah. I apologize." He looked at Miss Militia. "While we were in the Endbringer shelter, I had this feeling that I knew Amara. After I was cured of the plague, I checked the recordings of her voice and compared them to people I knew. Ninety-six percent match with Panacea. I contacted Dragon, she told me what happened, and I agreed to keep it confidential."

Miss Militia looked around the table. "What the hell? The world's greatest healer dies, but is secretly alive and hidden? On that alone the whole damn Protectorate would go up in arms."

Dragon spoke, her voice full of sympathy. "We decided to respect Panacea's wishes. She wanted to leave that life behind, because she can't be a healer as she used to be. Her family learned she was still alive after the Simurgh's death. I'd been preparing a briefing package with Brandish for the Chief-Director when the Nine came to town. After that..."

I spoke quietly. "I wasn't going to let my friend die if I could help it. Amy and Vicky have been my only real friends in what seems like forever. What I did was a desperation move, I wasn't sure it was going to work at the time. I'm only glad it did. Not going back to healing at the hospital was her choice, one spurred on by both all the stress she's under and that her power's changed. If you want more details, you'd have to ask her. "

Miss Militia was quiet for a moment. "Even if you're telling me the entire truth here, how it looks is going to be enough to start a war. You being able to turn people into vampires will raise fears that you're a thousand times worse than Nilbog. Hell, Nilbog and Teacher combined with _Eidolon._ "

I could only sigh. "And I understand those concerns. It's not something I did lightly, and it's also something I hate doing. But I had the chance at saving her, and it worked. I'd have given you the same offer if you were wounded and help wouldn't have arrived in time."

Paladin coughed. "I think we all need a break here. Cause we're about to start arguing in circles."

Miss Militia stiffened, but finally, she sighed and slumped, the assault rifle transforming into a knife. "All this is far above my paygrade. No, no, I'm fine. Just having to spend my time with a teenager I sympathise with who just _accidentally_ causes more damage on impulse than a ton of villains can do deliberately. And I have to babysit."

I winced. "Sorry for putting you in this position."

She just slid forward and started thudding her forehead on the table.

Armsmaster looked at me. "Is self-resurrection a common ability among these 'gods'?"

I nodded slowly. "It's the mantle that decides, but yes. A god only dies under a few circumstances. If they're not suited to their position, if someone else manages to take their power, or if they willingly pass it on to someone else."

He grimaced. "Then we need to prepare for the possibility the Simurgh may return, like you did."

The blood in my veins turned to ice. I... _really_ hadn't considered that.

Paladin sat straight up in her chair. "Nineteen bound, One free."

Everyone turned questioning glances at her. Well, except Miss Militia. She was still thudding her forehead on the table.

Paladin shook herself, then looked at Dragon. "You said there were twenty-two gods, right?"

Dragon simply nodded.

Paladin's voice grew a bit stronger as she pointed to me and Dragon. "You two, your powers were loose. Not captured by those things. The other twenty were. Ifrit and Lotan as the Endbringers Behemoth and Leviathan. If the other seventeen are bound still... then that cape who killed the Siberian, Apostle, he said he was _serving_ them."

Miss Militia's voice was faint, muffled with her face in her hands. "Then the Simurgh's free. And active somewhere. If he was telling the truth."

Dragon's voice was thoughtful. "If the Simurgh's resurrected, then we're in deep trouble. But if it's _Ariel_ who's back and free, then our chances have improved significantly. We need more information."

I got to my feet. "Then we need to find Apostle. Wherever the hell he is." I looked at Armsmaster. "Quarantine ends in two days, right?"

He nodded. "That's the best estimate we have."

Dragon nodded resolutely. "Then in two days, we start hunting Apostle personally. The PRT's already looking for him, but we need to get on top of this ourselves. We need to know what he knows about the Endbringers, _if_ our hypothesis is correct. We need answers."


	77. Empire 7-5

Well, may as well get this out of the way. Since I was likely to be running all over the damn planet looking for Apostle in a few days, I should finish up the bits that needed my personal attention here. Brockton Bay may, eventually, become the first place I set up my portal operation, but the whole 'possible end of the world' thing was definitely going to put a crimp in those plans.

And it would be nice to just take an evening with my friends. That I'd be taking care of some business first was just being smart.

I looked up at the entrance to the Palanquin, lit by the downward-facing lights, which drew attention to the building in the middle of the night. I couldn't help but be amused at the sight of the sign next to the door. 'Have your ID, minors will not be served alcohol.' Fine by me. Not like it appealed to me even before I died. And now...can I even get drunk?

Heh. Four vampires walk into a bar. Insert punchline.

Miss Militia looked at me, a look of concern in her eyes. "Faultline called you here. I doubt this will mean an ambush, but I still don't like it."

Alucard shook his head slightly. "To call for one with the power the Scarlet Dragon has demonstrated, only to attack, would be a foolish move in the extreme. If this 'Faultline' is a mercenary, it's unlikely she would try. It's a good way to ensure you can never find another to hire you in the future. Still, your point is well taken."

Meridia grinned, her new tail flicking behind her, clearly enjoying herself. And taking the opportunity to wear...well, not much. A tight tubetop and a miniskirt. I'm still not sure where she got that. "You go to the right tavern, you can find anything you want. A good drink, opium, a playmate for bed, or find a stage to feast on the lust of an entire crowd."

Amy shifted a little uncomfortably. "Too late for me to try and decide to look different? Considering the whole thing was to make people think I'm your daughter and all, I'm getting a bit weirded out."

Meridia looked at Amy with a smile. "Well, I'd be disappointed if you wanted to change your looks. I wanted to enjoy having a daughter of my own for a while. I didn't even have the chance to really enjoy playing your mother, Lady Amara. Especially since we're both vampires, now."

Amy swallowed a bit. "You do know humans don't normally go for that kind of thing?"

Meridia looked around. First at me, then Alucard, then Amy, then Miss Militia. "I see only one human here. What matters to humans do not matter as much to us."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. At Amy's glare, I just shrugged.

Alucard had a faint smile on his lips. "If you and Meridia wish to discuss this further, I suggest doing so in private."

Amy looked at Meridia, and swallowed. "I can appreciate the thought, but no."

Meridia pouted. And Miss Militia looked amused.

With a laugh under my breath, I pulled open the doors and stepped inside the Palanquin.

Well. This place had definitely seen better days. The nightclub section around the entrance had scorchmarks and the faint scent of charcoal lingering in the air. Most of the damage seemed cosmetic, but serious enough. Right in the middle of the dance floor was a small crater of melted tile. Toward the back was a set of stairs leading to a balcony up above, where I could see quite a few people sitting, lounging, and eating. An...orange man was waving at us.

"Good evening." A deep voice rumbled. I jumped a bit as I whirled on its owner.

A very large man wearing all black, hood pulled up. He kept his face mostly hidden, though I could see something on his chin. Shells? Yeah, shells. Little tiny snail shells.

Ignoring my staring, he spoke calmly. "Forgive the damage. Burnscar came upon us. We have had much to deal with. Faultline is expecting you, Scarlet Dragon. This way, please."

I nodded with a smile. "All right."

My escort led the way, and the four of us went upstairs. I could sense Meridia looking around with fascination, Alucard with interest. Meridia murmured lowly as we walked. "His soul is a young one, my lady. Younger than it should be."

I gave a nod, but didn't respond beyond that. Not sure what that meant, anyway.

We were led to a long table, around which were some familiar faces. Well, masks. I recognized Faultline by her hair and outfit, though she'd apparently turned in the welding mask for a face-concealing domino mask. At the end of the table was the orange man, his spiky and dishevelled hair splayed in all directions.

Faultline gestured to the seats on the opposite end of the table. "Please, sit down. I'm glad you could spare the time to do this. I know you're busy." She gestured at the orange man. "This is Newter." Another gesture at our escort. "And Gregor."

I smiled as I took the seat, careful to drape my wings along the sides. Considerate of her to get a chair to make that a bit easier. Wait, no, all the chairs had a narrow back. Ah well. "Not as busy as I'll be after the quarantine drops. I've got quite a few irons in the fire, so it was either I see you now or never. Anyway, call me Scarlet, everyone does." I waved at each of my companions in turn. "This is Meridia, Alucard, and Amara. I'm sure you know Miss Militia."

She nodded in understanding, then looked at my companions. "Please, sit. I can assure you you've nothing to worry about here."

"I'll stand." Alucard said stiffly.

"Same." Miss Militia said, though she relaxed somewhat.

Meridia smiled, taking a seat next to Newter. "Hmm. You're a cute one. Does the orange go all the way down?"

He tugged a bit at his collar, chuckling. "Actually yeah. Right to the tip of my tail. Thanks. Most people are just kinda uneasy about me. Uh..." He looked at Meridia curiously. "Those horns real? Cause they're kinda neat."

Meridia's smile dropped a little, though there was definite interest in her eyes. "Yes. I'm still adjusting to them."

Amy coughed as she took a seat next to me. "Meridia, would you please not flirt with everything in sight?"

Meridia blinked in surprise, then just made a mischievous smile. "But it's so fun... and I've never had an orange person before."

Faultline looked between them, then at me, her voice filled with amusement. "My sympathies."

"Thanks." I said dryly. "So what's this about?"

Faultline gestured to me. "Several things. First of all, I was contacted by Grue of the Undersiders. He wants to know how Tattletale is, if she's okay. A lot of people are trying to clean things up after the deaths of the Nine."

I blinked, but nodded. "Yes, she's all right. She actually got lucky, missed the Nine coming to town. She's on my island as a guest. There's just no advanced technology there, so there hasn't been any cell phones or anything else to work with. That's actually one of the things I'm trying to get arranged."

Faultline nodded in understanding. "I'll pass that along. Secondly... We have questions. I know you're a Changer. You looked a lot more human when the city's villains met at Somer's Rock. What we're interested in is that you've apparently got a lot of obviously-different capes with you. We want to know what you do about the Case 53s. If you're responsible for them being here." She gestured to Alucard and Meridia.

Gregor rumbled as he walked around the table, standing behind Faultline. "We want to know whether we are from your world."

Ah. Miss Militia told me about this. I shook my head. "Sorry. As far as I know, you're not from the same place we are. There's plenty of nonhuman beings in my castle." I looked to Meridia.

Meridia smiled, taking the hint. "Castlevania is populated by many beings. Even before our world was destroyed in its final conflict, it was a haven for those rejected by the world at large. Our Lord, Dracul, made an army of us. However, most of us are of a type. I was a succubus, before My Lady the Scarlet Dragon exalted me. But I was but one, when there were hundreds of thousands of us at the height of our power. Even now we have a few thousand of my kind in the castle. But there are more."

Amy spoke then, her voice a bit soft. "Case 53s are all unique. The only commonalities is the lack of memory and the tattoo. Different powers, different bodies, different problems. That's not the case with us. The four of us have powers in common, because we're the same kind of type of being. Others in the castle fall into different archetypes. Only a small fraction of us pass for human, but that's the face we've been putting forward here."

There was definite disappointment in Newter's voice. "So we're back at square one. Knowing nothing."

I nodded, looking at him with sympathy. "If it's any consolation, I am planning on making a place for Case 53s once things have settled down somewhat. Right now I'm just trying to get caught up, this Earth is very different from Castlevania's own. The only thing that's about the same are people as a whole."

Meridia closed her eyes a moment, taking a deep sniff of the air, leaning toward Newter. "Interesting..."

Faultline narrowed her eyes, looking at Meridia. "Hm?"

Meridia tilted her head, stroking her chin, her ebony skin seeming to glisten in the lights of the club. "Both of your companions here have young souls. Much younger than your bodies. I wonder if that is the case for all of those who resemble us."

Newter swallowed, his eyes being drawn downward toward Meridia's...assets, as she leaned toward him. "So...uh...what's that mean?"

She shrugged, leaning closer, seeming to enjoy the scent of his skin. "Your minds are young. No memory of what passed before?"

Gregor's deep voice cut in. "Small fragments at best. We wake up without even our names, but we know a language, some skills. Being able to read. We find ourselves on our own, not knowing anything more than we are different."

Newter's voice was a bit weak. "Uh...please don't touch me unless you want to get high. My body makes a narcotic. Even touch me and you'll be off in la-la land."

I sighed to myself. "Meridia, you're going to break him."

Meridia grinned at me. "He exudes much frustration, My Lady. I would _love_ to help him work through it all. And it's unlikely I will be affected by any such things." Testingly, and teasingly, she pressed the tip of her finger against his cheek.

We all waited a moment. Meridia just smiled and licked her finger sensuously. We waited another beat.

"Uh." Newter said slowly. "Normally you're supposed to fall over giggling at this point."

Meridia's grin widened. "No, we do that _after_ I take you to a room and have some fun."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Meridia, after the meeting, please?"

She pouted, but nodded, moving back away from Newter. "As you will, My Lady."

Out of other options, I turned back to Faultline. "Anyway, wish I had better news for you. Your crew will be welcome on my soil. Besides..." I grinned. "I might have some work for you in the near future. I'll pay well, too."

"Oh?" She sounded interested.

I grinned "Nothing too difficult. I just may need some extra hands for the grand opening coming later this month."

* * *

True to her word, Meridia dragged Newter off to his room as soon as the meeting was over with. At least she was going to be occupied for a while. Still, I had to work on things, and while my progress was slowed somewhat by the quarantine, it was by no means stopped. Nobody could force me to obey it, after all, but yet again, breaking it would damage my long-term plans. Still, the wonders of technology made things a little bit easier. I couldn't take two weeks or a month off, much as I'd like to, but I _did_ appreciate the slower pace for the moment.

"You know, Grue's trying to get in contact with you." I spoke into my cellphone as I sat on the Palanquin's roof. I was getting pretty used to the view from rooftops, now that I think about it. Good way to have some privacy while enjoying the night air.

Well, some privacy. Alucard was keeping watch, though his expression was pensive. Probably somewhat lost in thought. Miss Militia sat closer to me, looking up and down the street. Whatever her faults, which were few, she was vigilant. I could feel the echo of Dracul in the back of my head being very approving of her.

 _Make her yours._

You shut up. Besides, only if she wanted to. Um..hm. How to broach that? 'Hey Hannah, want to leave your job being a hero and join my harem? I offer companionship and dental.'

Lisa sounded tired over the phone. _"_ _Yeah, not surprised. Me leaving and Coil being disappeared somewhere's left him in a lurch. He's got his reasons for villainy, you know. Don't exactly like leaving the gang, but I suppose with the whole thing with the Nine, it couldn't be helped."_

I nodded to myself. "How are things shaping up over there?"

Lisa hummed a little. _"_ _A bit better than things in the Bay. Cell tower is up, thanks to Dragon, and I'm in the middle of getting some gas generators going until we can get a more permanent means of power generation. Should speed up some of the effort when it comes to modernizing this place. I keep getting the stinkeye from the demons here. Or the succubi keep undressing me with their eyes."_

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, they do that. Have they actually tried anything?"

" _Nah. It's annoying, but nothing more annoying than the idea of dating normally. Which I don't do, because people are seriously twisted, you know? You have any idea what it's like to have someone else's likes and dislikes shoved into your head whether you want them or not? Cause I get that whenever I seriously consider pretty much anyone."_

I blinked. "Actually yes, I can get where you're coming from." Let's see, the near-constant _They are beneath me_ , the whole lusting after women when I hadn't before, (thankfully I still liked guys, too,) the faint memories, the clear memories, and of course, the arrogance. Whole heaps and heaps of arrogance.

" _Huh. You know, you're the weirdest person I've ever met. And I know some weird people. Only weirder thing is your castle. I'm looking at a room that's upside down, here. I have no idea how the tea is staying in the cups, or how the candle flames are actually pointing downward. And yesterday I went swimming in that little lake you've got out front. You've got a brook flowing by it, but it's flowing_ _ **uphill.**_ _"_

I laughed softly. "That's the castle for you. She must be in a pretty good mood to messing around like that, though."

" _That's a_ _ **good**_ _mood, just breaking physics? And_ _ **she?**_ _"_

I grinned. "Yeah. Because she hasn't thrown anything deadly at you, has she? Just messing with you a bit?"

Lisa sighed, sounded exasperated. _"_ _Yeah, I suppose. Great, now my power's going to be on overdrive about this whole place. Why do you have a living castle, anyway?"_

I let amusement fill my voice. "Well, you know, it was left to me in a will. Had to spend the night in a haunted, sentient castle, but she liked me so much she followed me home."

Silence reigned for a moment, then Lisa sighed. _"_ _Know what the bad part is? I know you're not lying much. Anyway, the inhabitants are getting a bit restless. They're waiting for you to get back and give the word. If you don't get back pretty soon, you might have some problems. Petty fiefdoms just might spring up."_

Great, more on my plate. "I'll take care of things as soon as I can." I hung up. Taking a deep breath, I checked my phone for the time, and blinked. "Uh...Miss Militia, how long has Meridia been with Newter?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "Two hours by my estimation."

I winced. She might have killed him with exhaustion by now. "Uh...we should go check on her."

So we headed down from the roof access, stopping as I heard giggling and moans as we approached the hall.

Alucard shook his head. "Nay, they're fine. They're still...occupied." He tapped his ear. "And enthusiastic."

I blinked. "Yeah, I got that. How long are they going to..?"

He frowned as he looked back at me. "Depends on how much...energy, they want to work out."

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

I shuddered. "Okay, well, I've got things to do. And I need to go bleach my brain."

Alucard sighed. "I will ensure nothing happens and bring Meridia back to the hospital by morning."

I nodded with gratitude.

A shriek of pleasure reached me. And I recoiled at Meridia's screams of encouragement. _"_ _Yes, I'm a bad girl, a bad girl!"_

Miss Militia spoke firmly. "Let's go. Now. You're too young for this."

I nodded faintly. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

I watched with equal parts wonder and disgust as Amy worked. She clasped Vicky's hand with one hand, the other buried in a bucket of raw meat.

Vicky had her eye closed, trying to keep calm. Miss Militia just watched with curiosity. I guess she was a bit more used to seeing biomass shift around on its own. Or maybe she just had a stronger stomach than I did.

Weird what squicks you. I can impale someone on a spike no problem, but seeing an eye grow out of leftover meat made me queasy. I swear, if that thing blinks at me, I'm leaving.

Wait. No worries there. There's no eyelids on it. That...makes it worse, actually.

Finally, the eye finished forming in the bucket, jiggling there. Amy gently extracted it, nerves dangling from the end. She looked at it, then at Vicky, and nodded slowly. "Almost have it right this time. The nerves are a bit twisted, this one would be pretty disorienting if I'm understanding right. One more practice session and I'll feel confident enough to replace your eye, Vicky."

Vicky let out a breath. "Thanks, Ames."

Miss Militia's voice was full of curiosity. "If I didn't know better, I'd have never guessed you were Amy Dallon. Your face and hair's completely different. You look like Meridia."

Amy sighed, a deep growl of frustration coming from deep in her throat. "One of the things that changed when I became a vampire. I can make myself look like anyone, long as I have the biomass to do it. Healing someone else, though? That's a lot harder. I used to be able to touch someone and get a full and in-depth understanding of their entire body. It was just there, fully understood, and I could intuit the problems. Then I could visualize what I wanted to do to fix it, from the DNA up. Now? I can still see things, but it's not perfect. The more intricate the structure, the more difficult it is to perceive and visualize. I'm also lacking a full idea on what's wrong. There's just _so much stuff_ here. It's a bit easier with symmetrical structures, so rebuilding an eye is somewhat easier than some other things. I just need to mirror the intact eye, for example. Healing someone's all about the little details, and there's literally billions of those to work through." She made a frustrated sound. "It's actually easier to fix up a virus or a bacterium than a heart. Viruses are very simple things, and while bacteria are a lot more complicated, I can just make one and copy it a lot. But blood vessels and nerves and tissue layers are harder, because they're made up of different cells all layered together."

Miss Militia nodded a little. "I think I can understand somewhat. My power lets me make any weapon I understand, and because of my memory, I just need to remember which one I want. I'm pretty sure I'd have a lot of trouble with it if I had ordinary memory to work with."

Amy sighed, carefully turning the eye in her hand, looking it over. "Bad part is, changing myself is easy, making stuff from my own flesh is easy. But the only time it's that easy on someone else is when I'm not caring about whether they survive or not. Destruction's a lot easier than healing. If I put the nerves together wrong, the signals reaching the brain will be disoriented. Put the blood vessels together wrong, and a clot could form or the organ might not get enough oxygen and die. There's _so_ many problems that might come up. That's why I'm taking so long about trying this. I want to get it right. I'm not just going to try things willy-nilly and risk killing my sister."

Vicky smirked. "And I, for one, am quite happy about not getting my brain scrambled. Sides, we can always go with plan B, right?"

Amy whirled on her sister. "No, no, _no._ Absolutely not!"

I waved my hands. "Whoa. Wait a sec. Plan B?"

Vicky smirked. "Yeah. Plan B. Blood. I ask real nice if I can join the club."

Miss Militia shook her head. "Are you serious?" She looked back and forth between me and Vicky. "That's a rather drastic measure, isn't it?"

Uh yeah, it is. Okay Taylor. Think. Thinkthinkthink.

 _You will be lonely if you do not have companions who can live as long as you do._

Gee, thanks for the advice, evil voice in my head.

Vicky folded her arms. "Look. I've thought about it. Not saying I'm going to force the issue, but I ain't going to mope too much if I have to become a vampire for whatever reason." She looked at Amy. "The Siberian could have killed me, easy. She chose not too, probably because her maker was seriously fucked in the head and wanted me to suffer, but I don't remember the last time I got seriously hurt. It made me think, Ames. I'm getting older. Nothing I have to worry about right now, but you and Red aren't, are you? Hell, Al said he's damn near a thousand years old, and he doesn't look it. I got him to start wearing a shirt after people kept staring at his abs. Including me."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. Even Miss Militia seemed amused.

Vicky was smiling now as she went on. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking to be turned tonight or even ten years from now. I gotta explain a whole lot to Aunt Sarah and our cousins. And frankly, the idea scares me a bit. But I can think of worse things. And..." She bit her lip, looking a bit shy, her single eye serious. "I don't want to leave you two alone forever."

I couldn't help it. I just stepped forward and hugged her. And Amy had done the exact same thing, the two of us busily hugging Vicky.

"Ack! Air!"

"Liar." Amy and I chorused.


	78. Interlude: Calm

A/N: Okay, this one's been real slow. It's been a combination of finding the time and energy to keep writing as I've been hit with a whole lot of stuff going on. Plus a few rewrites. Now I'm happy with it, though.

* * *

Dean tried to keep from fidgeting as the machine worked. Considering the occasional lance of white-hot pain that arced up through the upper half of his left arm, that was easier said than done. The stump at the end was covered by a casing, through which Dragon was working to install an interface for an artificial arm. Still, he could bear it. The last few weeks had redefined the concept of pain for him. The clean, sterile air of the hospital was almost an old friend at this point.

"Sorry." Dragon murmured. The golden suit shifted a little as it stared at the device around his arm. "Local anaesthetics help with the pain, but not all of it. And unfortunately, we need some feedback along the nerves."

"I'll deal." He grit his teeth. "It hurts, but a hell of a lot less than losing it in the first place."

Vicky nodded at him, a slight smile on her lips, but her emotional aura was tinged with the yellow-blue of worry. "I'm glad you're okay." Gently, she touched his right hand. The one he still had, the one he could feel with.

Silence reigned for a moment, then Dragon spoke. "I know you two have had a lot going on. It's hard to keep up, I'm sure. Even I'm having trouble, and I'm right in the thick of it."

Dean chuckled at that. "Just a little bit. It's hard to grasp all this."

Vicky grinned. "Actually, it's kinda easy. Scarlet's power is pure bullshit, and so everything she does is bullshit. Just roll with it and it's a lot simpler. I'm not even going to blink if she starts pulling cream pies out of nowhere to chuck at people."

Both Dragon and Dean stared at her.

Vicky shrugged. "What? Why not? She's a vampire who can turn herself into a huge-ass dragon."

Dragon laughed lightly. "You have a point."

The room quieted for a bit, only the low humming of the installation machine breaking the silence.

Finally, Dean broke it. "I don't want to lose you, Vicky."

Vicky's aura snapped to the green-yellow of surprise. "What? What brought this on?"

He smiled wryly. "Just been a lot of things. Our relationship's always been on-again, off-again. Now this whole thing with vampires, now that Amy's one, and... this whole thing with your parents. I want to stand by you, but so many things have been happening that I've had no inkling of." He lifted his hand as Vicky opened her mouth. "I'm not mad. I just...I'm not sure where we stand, you know? I'm glad you're Scarlet's friend. I'm glad you're doing okay, considering everything that's happened. It's just...we haven't talked much at all. Not since Bakuda."

Vicky's light flushed with the soft pink of embarrassment. "Been a little busy."

Dean nodded. "Yeah. I get it, I understand. Things have been hectic from one crisis to another. I'm halfway surprised the city's still standing." He grimaced. "Mostly."

Silence reigned for a moment before Vicky spoke. "I'm considering joining them as a vampire."

That made both Dean and Dragon pause, staring at the teen.

Dragon's voice was filled with concern. "If it's about the eye, there are plenty of treatments and options available. Wasn't that something you were working on, anyway?"

Vicky nodded, a sigh escaping her lips. "Yeah. And I'm not saying I'm gonna do it in the near future. Just...an eventuality, you know? I don't want to leave Ames and Red on their own forever."

After an awkward moment, Dean spoke. "So what about us?"

She shrugged helplessly. "Your choice, Dean. I ain't gonna tell you what to do, what choices you can make. Hell, I got sick of that from..." Her voice cracked as she finished the word, her emotional aura filling with red and black hues. "Mom."

Carefully, Dean raised his right arm, and Vicky settled down next to him, resting her fingers on his shoulder.

Her voice was small as she spoke. "My life, you know. My choices to make. If it wasn't for Ames, I wouldn't be considering it. But I feel like I'm losing everything. I don't want her to be alone." She sniffed. "I promised when we were kids that I'd be the bestest sister ever. Can't do that if I grow old and die while she's still the same." She swallowed and cleared her throat. "We could ask if you wanted to, too. I mean...it's not something I'm doing soon, but someday, maybe..."

Dean could see it in her emotional light. The conflict, the broiling of emotions. The raw pain and need. The desire for some _stability._ He spoke gently. "I'm here, Vicky. I won't pretend I like the whole idea, but...you're important to me. Damn important."

She kissed his cheek.

"There, done." Dragon said with a note of satisfaction in her voice. The encasement around his arm opened, and Dean carefully lifted and looked over his new artificial arm.

It was a skeletal thing, whirring and clicking a little as he turned the mechanical wrist. Experimentally, he clenched it into a fist, and watched the metal knuckles line up. "Huh. It works fine. Don't feel much from it, though." Experimentally, he tapped the ends of the metal fingers. There was only the slightest bit of sensation. Resistance, but no warmth, no texture.

Dragon chuckled. "I'm told it takes time to get used to. Armsmaster's still adjusting to his legs. This is just the skeletal work, though. There's a few different coverings you might try, and more artificial nerves can be hooked up to some of them. I'd consider something like a synthetic flesh covering over it, but that would make maintaining it a lot more difficult."

He smiled slightly, his eyes on Vicky. "We'll deal."

She smiled faintly in return.

* * *

Cherie Vasil was having a bad day.

Not that things had been especially _good._ Not since...well, ever. The best day of her life was when she _finally_ had some power. Fear of the Nine had driven her brothers away. Moving through Wallerton, using her power to turn families on each other, forcing them to kill each other and enjoy the act...that had been the best. That she went through hell over and over, just to prove herself. She survived, and even began to _thrive_ as she finally had some control over her life. Sure, she was the plaything of other psychopaths, but at least with _them_ , she was on top of the hill, rather than being shat on at the bottom.

And it all turned to shit almost immediately. The Nine had been running around for nearly twenty years. Twenty years! And just three weeks after she joined, they were all dead. All of them. Even the fucking Siberian, dead. The death of Bonesaw _should_ have spelled the extinction of humanity. But nope, things were fine. Somehow the 'heroes' had managed to prevent even that. The prion plague that was _supposed_ to help provide cover, sow chaos, and help their escape if it became necessary was wiped out.

And now she was here. In a bunker in the middle of bloody nowhere. No people around in her entire range. No emotions whatsoever. Dragon had brought her here, a fallout shelter buried deep in the Canadian Shield, and had her monitored for any signs of mischief.

 _Why the hell didn't they listen to me?_ Jack hadn't wanted to go after the goddamned Scarlet Dragon. Neither had she or Shatterbird. But Bonesaw, Crawler and Mannequin had, and the Siberian and Burnscar wanted to go for their own reasons. Hatchet Face just plain hadn't cared. If they'd listened, if _just Burnscar listened,_ they'd all still be alive. Now it was just her, sole survivor of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and she wasn't likely to ever take a breath of fresh air ever again.

 _Dragon's voice was harsh, judgmental as the famous Tinker's digital avatar glared at her over the screen. "Cherie Vasil. One of Heartbreaker's children. We've seen a few of your siblings over the years. Human-Masters are quite a large concern. Your brothers and sisters don't tend to do very well outside of that compound, though."_

 _Cherie wanted to punch the screen in. The only thing that kept her from doing so was that it was the only source of contact with_ anyone _here. She put as much misery into her voice as she could. "I swear, I was just trying to hide from my brothers. I didn't join the Nine, I just panicked in the shelter and tried to run."_

 _Dragon's digitized face frowned at her. "Even if I believed you, which I don't, you're responsible for five deaths in the shelter. Had you told the truth about your identity, if not your affiliations, it's quite possible you might have been brought on board. Every bit of information about Heartbreaker's compound is useful, and any aid rendered toward the goal of ending him is actually_ well _awarded by the Canadian government. Instead, you ran, and hid, and used your powers to kill people during the Slaughterhouse Nine's last stand. Your actions helped Hatchet Face kill one civilian and nearly murder a Ward. The_ only _reason you haven't been executed is the possibility you may have useful information that may result in saving the hostages your father has collected."_

 _Cherie swallowed. "So you'll kill me once I'm done talking?"_

 _Dragon sounded insulted. "No. Here's the deal. For every bit of useful information you provide, that gets verified, I will provide you a privilege. A television, books, and food that's more elaborate than rations. For any bit of information that turns out to be false, a privilege will be taken away. Regardless of the circumstances, however, you have been sentenced to isolation for the rest of your days. The only reason you are not in the Birdcage is because there is no method for communication outside once you are inside."_

Dragon communicated with her about once a week, grilling the prisoner on everything she knew about her father. His habits, his victims, the layout of his compound. All of it brought back the horrible memories of that place.

 _Grasping hands, forcing her backwards over the bed. Struggling and kicking in vain, trying not to cry. Wishing she could just_ _ **stop this.**_ _She always screamed inside when sent to her room with her elder brother, Pierre Vasil. Heartbreaker's son, not just in blood but in spirit. Her brother grinned with that twisted, sickening smile that haunted her nightmares._

 _All the while knowing her father was watching._

At least here, she was alone. At least here, her brothers weren't around. At least here, her lazy, hedonistic and _twisted_ father wasn't. Jean-Paul was smarter than she was. He walked away. All the while she hung on, hoping her father would finally exploit the powers he held. Use them to make a big push and take over Montreal. Being the heir to a criminal empire would have made it all _worth it._

Instead, he just expanded his harem. Nikos Vasil was happy as long as he had what he wanted, toys for his amusement. He cared for his own blood in all the wrong ways.

With a sigh, she turned to the screen and turned it on. "Well. Least I've got cable."

An hour into an entertainingly bad movie, based on something from Japan before Leviathan sank Kyushu, she felt a chill. A whisper of amusement coming from the very edge of her power's range. As if someone was pacing around, flitting in and out of it, just on the edge. Again and again, someone darkly amused, almost gleeful. As if she was feeling someone else stretching and feeling freedom for the first time in ages.

 _Solitude. Enjoyment. The rush of air and freedom._

"Well fuck you too, bastard." She grumbled. The person was too far away for her to influence, anyway. Just sense, barely.

Still, who the hell was out here? This was _supposed_ to be the middle of nowhere.

She idly considered speaking, telling Dragon about it. She decided not to. If that hobo came near enough to her prison to affect, she'd make sure he killed himself anyway. It's not like she cared about what happened out there anymore. Or maybe she'd 'just' make him fall in desperate love with the nearest bear.

That sounded fun. It wasn't like she had much else to do.

* * *

A pawn moved forward. A knight on the opposite end shifted to protect a rook.

Marquis had a slight frown on his lips. His opponent's strategy was much like the man himself. Calm, yet aggressive. Lung set his side of the board up so that any attack would be swiftly, brutally countered.

The chessboard was a simple thing, made out of a lightweight plastic, set on a table on the side of the common room. The chess pieces were made from Marquis' own bone. It was the only place he had where he could get such things. In an ordinary prison, confiscating things that could be turned into weapons was a high priority. Inside the Birdcage, there was no such policy. The prisoners policed themselves, for death was the only guard. Things _had_ gotten a bit more...civilized, when Glastig Uaine, the Fairy Queen, had entered, however.

Marquis' voice was filled with certainty as he moved a rook forward, shoring up his defense. "You seem distracted."

Lung's lip twitched, moving forward a pawn. "I have been...considering."

Marquis nodded. The other man would speak, or not, if he wished. Marquis simply moved a piece, Lung responded. It went back and forth for about a minute.

Lung spoke, his voice thoughtful. "When I first arrived here, I seethed. The Dragon of Kyushu, defeated by a child. One who had not appeared before that night. She who maimed my lieutenant and ensured I would not walk free again."

Marquis nodded again, taking a moment to frown at the board. Ah. Classic gambit, to move a rook behind the lines. Marquis blocked the line of attack with a bishop. "And then she goes on to kill the Simurgh."

Lung smiled. "Indeed. Not only that, she does so as a true dragon. In a flash, a brief moment, she matches my power at my height. And then goes on to remove the blight of the Nine." His smile faded somewhat, as he thoughtfully shifted another pawn. "When I faced Leviathan at Kyushu, it was a loss. Every time I believed I had the upper hand, the beast showed a bit more strength. More than it had showed ever before. I grew ever-stronger, and it simply did _more._ I came to realize, even as Kyushu sank, that it had been toying with us, even with my presence. It was in no danger, even from I." A slight shift of his expression, anger buried beneath the surface. "Beyond that, however, was a sense. The beast does not care. We are nothing to it."

"Mm. So that's why you never bothered to fight again." Marquis had heard the stories, of course. There weren't many places in the world who hadn't heard of the Endbringers, and of the man who fought one to a standstill. But why Lung had never fought again, that was just speculation.

Lung nodded. "I have seen video of Behemoth. It moves and acts, to accomplish its goal. But there is hatred there. It doesn't care about what we do to it, but it is raging. Always raging. Leviathan acts to kill without care. Efficiently. It uses its form to crush while its waters act as a blade. I came to believe they could not be killed." A slight chuckle escaped him. "And then the Simurgh is killed by our warden and the young red dragon."

A slight clicking as bone tapped on plastic. Hm. Lung was actually pretty good as a chess player. Marquis moved a knight forward. "Made you rethink things?"

"Indeed. Only in one sense. We know they _can_ die. That it would be easy is another question. The world hopes they can repeat the miracle at Vancouver. I wish them well. But I am not so confident." With a slight chuckle, Lung moved a pawn forward. "It would add only to my reputation to survive the girl who slew all three of the Endbringers, however."

Marquis nodded. He could see the humor in it, though he couldn't appreciate it at the moment. "I see." He shifted a rook forward, behind Lung's carefully crafted defense. "I do believe that is checkmate."

Lung looked down at the board. He glowered, but accepted it. "Indeed. Well played." He looked back at Marquis. "You seem to be more at ease."

Marquis just shook his head. "I am numb. Give me a slight irritation, and I'll ensure someone else regrets it."

Lung just grunted. Marquis knew he hadn't exactly been...calm, in the wake of Vancouver. The news that his daughter was dead, dead just before the Simurgh's final attack, had been enough to break his composure. Even the death of the Simurgh hadn't given him much in the way of happiness. For everyone else, the day of the Simurgh's death would be a day of celebration for centuries to come. For Marquis, it would be the day of his daughter's death.

If he ever got free of this cage, he would kill Carol Dallon for her failure to protect his blood.

Lung got to his feet. "I have things to attend to." Oni Lee, the man meant. The crippled teleporter wasn't much of a threat these days. Lung tended to his lieutenant, though it was anyone's guess until the day Oni Lee simply killed himself in some manner.

Marquis nodded as he got to his feet. "Another time then." He bowed his head slightly. Respect without deference. A difficult line with Lung.

Marquis made his way back to his cell. Assorted little knick-knacks collected over the years in this prison. A shelf crafted from bone, books resting on it. A few figurines carved from bone, Marquis using his memories to forge for himself more permanent reminders. One of the few ways he could remember his treasure, his Amelia.

He didn't believe for a second some _illness_ had killed her. The world had made a very big deal about the fact that Panacea was immune to such a mundane thing as disease. Her power prevented such things from having the chance to harm her. No, it had to be someone, someone who was willing to risk the entire world coming after them just to dig at Marquis. The Butcher, probably. That particular problem wouldn't care in the least. What would they do? Kill the Butcher? The idea was laughable.

Only to stop as he noticed a sheet of paper lying on his bed. It was lying open, plain to see it was a letter, written in a flowing, but inexperienced hand. Still, even this could be a trap. Carefully, he pointed a finger, suppressing the snarl of pain that would come as he extended the bone of the tip of his finger to push the page from its position, to see if there was something behind it. A poison, a disease, an explosive. Life in the Birdcage certainly wasn't boring.

Nothing. He broke the bone, shrinking the jagged edge of the bone to his finger's proper length. His power let him heal quickly, though it never helped with the pain. Just simple practice, there. Retrieving the letter, he swallowed as he read it.

 _Hello father._

 _I know what you have heard. That I died just prior to the Battle of Vancouver. That Amy Dallon is gone._

 _This is what I decided what was best. My life as Amy Dallon, as Panacea, was one that I could no longer stand. I'm well, and okay. I'm happier than I've been in a long time. I don't know what to write here. How does one say hello to the father they barely remember?_

 _I remember you were kind. I remember your voice as you read to me. The Cat in the Hat. Even now, I remember that book very fondly. I don't remember much else. Just some a few times when I was sure I could just find you if I got away. It took me a while to realize just what happened, where you really were. I've heard stories about you my whole life, though it took a long time for me to realize I was_ your _daughter._

 _If you're wanting to get vengeance on New Wave for taking me, for failing me, I ask that if you ever get free, you don't. I wasn't very happy with them, but Bonesaw of the Slaughterhouse Nine paid us a visit. Whatever sins my adoptive mother and father committed, they've more than paid for them. It took much for me to undo her work and save their lives. Even now, they're screaming. If it helps at all, the Nine are dead. All of them. There won't be any more lives ruined by Jack Slash._

 _Things are different now. The city's been battered and hurt, but it's surviving. We're about to bring it to life in an all new way. I've joined a new family, but I haven't forgotten that I had two others._

 _I'm sorry, I don't know what else I want to say. This is so awkward, and hard. I'm sure you want to talk to me. Ask for Dragon, she can arrange it. She's been...experimenting, I guess. Or just talk to the cameras. We can figure something out._

 _I want you to know. I don't hate you. I don't think you're a monster. I just think you're fallible, human. You made choices that led to us being separated. I also know you didn't abandon me. Things have been rough here, things that are so very hard to understand. I'm adjusting. I don't want to face eternity without knowing more than just some hearsay about you._

 _Your daughter,_

 _Amelia._

At some point while reading, Marquis had slumped to the ground, cradling the sheet of paper. Reading it again and again. Now it was his _second_ most-precious treasure.

For nothing could ever replace his daughter. If this letter was _real,_ he would give his very soul to whomever brought him this miracle.

If a lie...he would see the world burn for it. Somehow.

* * *

Daniel Hebert was a man on a mission. One made all the more difficult because of the quarantine. Sure, the quarantine would be dropping by tomorrow, but because of the length of it, so many things in the city were simply unavailable. Necessities were available, but a lot of luxuries weren't. Plain water and food was plentiful. A good burger or steak simply wasn't.

Though at this point, just about everyone he knew was looking forward to Fugly Bob's reopening. They'd run out of supplies in after the first week, and meat on day two. Essential supplies had been dropped in, but that still made things difficult.

"I'm sorry." The attendant behind the counter said, his voice apologetic. Kid couldn't have been older than nineteen. "We ran out of supplies for them about two days after the quarantine sprung up. The ingredients and supplies just don't keep that well, and we've had enough trouble with everything else."

Danny sighed. "Third place I've been to with the same story."

The hapless attendant shrugged. "Sorry."

Danny shook his head. "Not your fault, kid. It is short notice, and, yeah. It's hard to find what we need here."

An apologetic smile. "I'm just glad you're not yelling at me. If it helps, by next week we should have some. Lot of businesses have taken a pretty big hit with being on hold for this long, but we're raring to get everything reopened."

Danny sighed again. "It just won't be the same."

The attendant nodded. "I hear you. All I can suggest is to try a big grocery store. Might have some supplies there...though it's a long shot. We're barely in business as things are, and that would be one of the first places hit. I'll be surprised if you can find bottled water on the shelves."

With some annoyance, but no surprise, Danny left the store. He stepped his way back to the truck and went to the next place on the list.

Sure, he _could_ have called the PRT and seen if he could get a few strings pulled, maybe had a special drop, but there was a problem with that. He wanted it all to be a surprise.

He needed to pick up some tassels, some lettering...maybe the hardware store still has some supplies he could work with. Things were getting pretty scarce all over, unfortunately. What was sent in was the stuff people needed to live, but businesses and the little people suffered. Of course they suffered. It was always the little people who suffered first.

The drive was mostly uneventful. There were few cars on the road, most people were walking, enjoying the late June weather. The sun was shining, and the streets were pretty clean, the results of last night's gentle rains.

He enjoyed the drive, taking the time to just _breathe._ The world felt open to him now, the sheer color and _energy_ his life had lacked for years, slowly returning. His daughter, returned from the dead. A miracle, in every respect, even if it was a dark miracle. She returned with the power of a god, a monstrous god of darkness and blood, but she was still _his Taylor._

He blinked and turned to the side of the road as flashing lights appeared in his rearview mirror. Fire trucks came roaring up from behind, passing him. With a sinking feeling, he stepped out of his truck, looking in the direction they were going.

Maybe about a mile off, there was smoke rising in the distance, boiling up from an apartment building.

Without thinking, he drove toward it, following the fire trucks, far enough back that if something happened, he wouldn't be in the way.

About a minute later, he was at the other end of the block, watching as the firemen deployed. They worked quickly, professionally, hooking their hoses up to the fire hydrants and starting to douse the blaze.

Still, something felt odd. Like he _knew_ he should be doing something, then-

 _Two entwining, giant beings. Larger than worlds, twisting and turning about each other. The forms bursting apart, turning themselves into raining stars as they approached._

Reality snapped back to him, blinking as the blackout faded. What the hell just happened?

"Sir, are you all right?" A voice spoke. He shook his head as he looked at his side, groaning as someone was pulling him to his feet. Spartan-style armor, spear, shield.

"Dauntless." Danny spoke. "Uh..."

The Protectorate hero's voice was quiet. "Director Piggot asked us to keep an eye on you. You blacked out?"

Danny nodded quickly. "Something happened. I saw...something. I can't grasp it."

The fire roared up, and a deep scream echoed from inside the building. A blast of blinding, bright light burst outward, scattering bricks and concrete, and a glowing figure flew out of the new hole in the side of the building, cradling something. The light-bearer hovered above the street, well-away from the smoke, wavering in mid-air. The faint sound of crying reached Danny, a child's terrified cries.

Dauntless pressed a finger to the side of his helmet. "This is Dauntless, Purity spotted at Janesway and Parkdale, fleeing the apartment fire." A moment passed, and his spoke with annoyance in his voice. "Understood, Control."

Another scream. A figure at the top of the building, gleaming with metal, holding someone else. There was a terrible crack, and the two began to fall together.

Dauntless disappeared in a flash of light, appearing near the pair in midair. The hero grabbed them, his shield and spear falling to the ground as he did, but it looked like the three would all hit the ground far too fast to be survivable.

Feeling helpless, Danny mentally screamed. _Save them!_

The water from the firehoses abruptly arced in midair, moving underneath the falling figures and forming a sphere around them. The water defied physics, slowing in midair, even as it expanded. Though it hit the ground with a force that made Danny wince, the sphere held. The water flowed away, leaving its precious cargo behind, spluttering and coughing.

Dauntless helped the two people to their feet. The first was someone short, though obviously a cape. He was covered in metal, head-to-toe, and it moved with him, looking somewhat like an animated, gleaming statue. The other was a woman, one-eyed, coughing and retching as she tried to get water out of her lungs.

The shining light returned as its bearer landed near Dauntless, raising one hand, a wailing infant in the other. "Dauntless, Neptune! Stand away now!"

The water flowed upward, flanking Dauntless as the hero stepped away from Purity, his body language showing confusion. "Not here for a fight, Purity." He looked at his side as the water formed up, taking a humanoid shape.

No, _two_ humanoid shapes. The first forming itself into an adult male, but the second being a tall, thin female. With the water forming itself into a pair of wings sprouting from her back.

Danny blinked in confusion as the metal-kid and one-eyed woman went to Purity, and the group moved off slowly. He just swallowed as Dauntless made his way back over to him, while the two water-people lifted their hands. Water began to move at their command, acting to douse the blaze.

Dauntless cleared his throat. "Well, Mister Hebert...at this point, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come in."

Danny nodded. "At this point, I'm not going to argue."

A long moment passed as they watched the work, waiting for the PRT to come in. Danny spoke slowly. "Well. My plans are shot." He smiled wryly. "Don't suppose you know anyone who'll be able to cater something on short notice?"

Dauntless stared at him as Danny explained. Finally, he just laughed. "I think it can be arranged."


	79. Interlude: Danny

A/N: It really brings warm fuzzies to my heart to see so many people pile in when I update. Seriously, thanks. Sorry this one's taken so long. Stupid diseases, stupid RL, and stupid me for being unsatisfied. This one took way too long. Next one should be a fair bit easier.

* * *

Armsmaster frowned at the three-dimensional image, projected into the air right in front of him, the scans being easily interpreted by the powerful computers designed by Dragon. Though that wasn't all that helpful, even with all the advances in technology developed by people and Tinkers over the years, there was a fair bit about the brain that was a mystery. Danny Hebert sat in the examination chair, a ring around his head, connected to a computer.

Danny tried for a bit of humor. "So, doc, am I going to live?"

Armsmaster traced his fingers over the top of the hologram, his fingers passing through the image. A frown was on his lips.

Danny cleared his throat. "Armsmaster?"

He straightened and looked at the other man, his voice faintly apologetic. "Sorry. Yes, physically you're fine. I was comparing your Corona Pollentia and Gemma with others on file. You're definitely a parahuman, though the structure's small. Smaller than it is for most who've submitted to scans."

Director Piggot cleared her throat. "Is there a problem?"

Armsmaster turned to the director and nodded in acknowledgement. "This was more a confirmation than anything else. Most powers are obvious, so scans aren't needed. Masters and Strangers are harder, but again, once you're looking for them, they can be pretty obvious. Heartbreaker's an example of one you don't need to scan to determine whether they're parahumans or not. Daniel Hebert's a harder case."

Danny shook his head. "I'm not feeling anything. Nothing in the back of my mind or anything."

Armsmaster nodded. "Which is what's making things difficult. If you simply had a Pollentia, I wouldn't be surprised, but you've definitely got an active Gemma. Maybe the size is what makes it more difficult for you to call upon your power. Most of the time the combined Pollentia and Gemma is the size of a kiwi. Yours is about half that."

Piggot frowned, her voice thoughtful. "Is that something that might affect the awareness of his power?"

"Mm." Armsmaster hummed a little in consideration "There's some powers that are involuntary. Alexandria's invulnerability, Gallant's emotional awareness. Perhaps this is the Master-equivalent of one like that. No conscious control, but working off the subconscious. That the constructs seem to be helpful seems to support that hypothesis." He paused a moment, his voice quiet. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't pry into a possible trigger event. This is unusual, however, and I hate to ask, but...Neptune first appeared under the Boardwalk on January the twenty-third. Can you think of anything that happened that day that might have instigated this? Maybe if we had some insight onto your trigger event, we might have a better idea on how your power works."

Danny stiffened in the chair. He shuddered for a moment, his face going pale. Finally, he spoke, his voice very quiet. "I'm only going to say it once. So don't interrupt me."

Piggot and Armsmaster nodded.

* * *

 _January 23rd, 2011_

The snow drifted down slowly, gently, covering the freshly-overturned earth. Danny stood before the simple, small slab of stone.

 _Here lies Taylor Hebert_

 _Beloved daughter_

 _June 19, 1995-January 7, 2011_

It wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough. Taylor deserved more than this. She deserved more than a small plot of land and a small slab for a tombstone. She deserved a happy home, a happy family. She deserved a father who would have _noticed the hell she was going through._ She deserved...

She deserved the world, and all she had was a grave. She couldn't even get _justice._ The gang culture of Winslow High covered the death of his daughter. The problem wasn't that they weren't saying anything. The problem was that there were _too many_ stories. The white skinheads were pointing at the asians and blacks, the asians were pointing at the skinheads and delinquents, the honor roll was pointing at each other, and the staff was pointing at everyone other than themselves.

There was a slight scuffling of feet behind him. He didn't turn as a voice intruded on his consciousness.

"I'm sorry, Danny." Alan Barnes said. "First Annette, now Taylor...I can't imagine what you're going through."

Danny's shoulders slumped. The weight of the world pressing in on him. There just wasn't anything left. Nothing he could do. Nothing could make up for his failure to protect his daughter. Finally, he spoke, the words dull and hollow. "Nothing you can do, Alan. Nothing anyone can do."

Another shift, winter boots rustling on snow-covered grass. Emma's voice spoke up, wavering, quivering, sorrowful. "I'm so sorry, Mister Hebert. I'm sorry she's gone."

His fingers twitched. All he could remember was the happy times. Emma and Taylor together, laughing in the house, the kitchen filled with the scent of his cooking while Annette chattered on about the day she had teaching. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Thank you, Emma. You're..." His voice cracked as he tried to get the words out. "You're a good kid."

Silence reigned for a moment, then Alan spoke. "I'm sorry to tell you now, Danny. We're leaving Brockton Bay."

It took a moment for the words to register, but when they did, he turned to look his friend in the eye. Alan looked tired, worn, and Emma had tears running down her cheeks, which froze and cracked in the cold. She looked stricken, filled with grief and pain.

"Where you headed, Alan?" Danny asked, not really caring about what the answer might be. It wasn't like it mattered.

"New York." Alan looked at Emma, gently wiping his daughter's tears. "An opportunity came up with a law firm there. It'll be an expensive move, but...with what happened to Taylor, I just feel Brockton Bay's not safe anymore. It..really hasn't been for a long time, but this is a wake-up call." He looked ashamed. "I know it's selfish, but I hadn't realized how bad things had gotten for this city until it happened to someone I knew."

Emma flinched a bit at the mention of Taylor.

Danny just nodded slowly. He wanted to rage. He wanted to yell and scream and cry. He wanted to fight, to wrangle, to tear at the earth until it gave him what he wanted. But it wouldn't. It couldn't. The world didn't listen to men like Danny Hebert.

He turned back to the grave, staring at the simple slab. "Take care, Alan."

He didn't acknowledge it as the other man walked off, the slight sobs of Emma echoing in the cemetery.

He barely noticed it when night fell.

* * *

The Brockton Bay Docks district. Where he made his livelihood.

The Dockworker's Union building was a simple warehouse, stained with salt and rusting in places. Still, he had fond memories of here, his first days on the job. Learning the ropes, being out from under the thumb of his father. The satisfaction of a good day's work.

Over the years, the good days got to be less and less common. After Annette died...there just hadn't been any. Work was sparse, good men joined the gangs just to get the money they needed to put food on the table.

Just another symptom of the city dying. Not that that mattered to him anymore.

He turned off the pickup truck's engine, taking a deep breath as the cold air began to trickle back into the cab. Part of him was afraid. The rest of him was at peace. The only thing that mattered to him was gone. There was only one thing left to do.

He got out, the cold winter air hitting him in the face. Sharpening everything, waking him up. He left the keys in, the truck unlocked. It wasn't as if he'd need it anymore. One of the guys would find it in the morning. Or a Merchant might steal it. It didn't matter anymore, anyway.

He stepped to the pier. The wood was icy, making it difficult for him to walk. His boots nearly slipped several times, the well-worn tread failing to keep a grip on the slick surface. His heart was pounding in his chest as he took each step toward the end. Part of him was afraid, but with every step came a growing calm certainty. He wouldn't feel this crushing, horrible sense of _failure_ anymore. It'd be worth it.

He looked into the water of the bay. The cold waters of the Atlantic, in the midst of winter. In the summer, in happier times, he liked swimming on the beach. Now he knew it would kill, easily. In minutes, just a few quick minutes. People said death by hypothermia was a shock, bracing...but at least it would be quick.

Danny closed his eyes, listening to the gentle sloshing of the water as it pushed against the edge of the pier.

Then he took a step forward and plunged into the icy water.

Pain. The warmth provided by the air trapped within his clothes was abruptly stolen away as the Bay's water replaced it, the sheer cold almost immediately numbing his skin. The air rushed from his lungs as he instinctively yelped in surprise, the cold water filling his throat, stealing yet more precious heat from him. There was a moment of terror, of instinctive panic. Despite the desire to just _end it all_ , the reptile part of his brain just didn't want to go just yet.

Then-

 _Destination._

-the water was surrounding him. Pulling its way out of his lungs. Heating up and covering him in a protective sheathe, pushing him to the surface and drawing him, inexorably, toward the beach. He struggled to move, but the water was impossible to resist. When it dumped him on the sand, the _heat_ counteracting the terrible cold of the rest of the Bay, it slowly withdrew, leaving him dry, warm.

Broken.

The water was forming up at his side, pulling itself together into a vaguely humanoid shape. A man, by the proportions, but lacking more than the simplest features. There was the shape of a face, but no eyes. The hint of lips, but just more water behind it, rippling and flowing.

Danny coughed as he tried to clear his throat. The cape...and it _had_ to be a cape, had pulled the water from him, but the stress and pain of having the water in his lungs remained. Finally, he managed to force the words out. "Why did you save me?"

The cape said nothing. The lips parted, there was a faint burbling...but there was no way for him to speak. Words were beyond the cape.

With a roar, Danny tried to hit the cape, but he just passed through, disrupting the form the cape had. Hot water flowed in all directions, soaking Danny once more, then flowing away from him again. Spitting out sand, Danny staggered his way to his feet, glaring at the cape that had just saved his life.

"Why did you save me!? Where the hell were you when my daughter was dying!?" He tried to get up, to flail again...but he felt too weak. Warm now, or not, he felt too damn tired. All he could do was content himself with tearing at the cold, hard sand. "Why didn't you save _her!?_ "

The cape extended a hand, made of water. He seemed to be having some trouble holding himself together, but nevertheless...Danny could sense the crushing disappointment in the other person's body language.

"Why me, and not her?" he sobbed. "Why? Why didn't you make yourself useful then and save her? Why...why me and not my daughter? Go and...I don't care! Help someone who fucking needs it, _because I don't need you! She needed you!_ " All Danny could do was sit there, completely incapable of doing anything other than wallow in misery.

By the time Danny was able to pull himself together, the cape was gone.

* * *

 _June 19, 2011_

Danny's voice was quiet as he finished. "I didn't know what to do, then. I just...got to the truck and went home. I barely left the house after that, until April. The whole time then was just a long, waking nightmare."

Piggot spoke after a moment, taking in the man before her. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "We're going to have to figure out how your power works. Much as I hate to press on you, your...projection, was a member of the Protectorate. He started to build a life, put in the paperwork for a Case 53 member, had privileged and classified information. If you actually have that knowledge...well, all this is going to be a mess to work out."

Danny nodded slowly. "The bane of all organizations. Paperwork." He looked like he was trying to smile, but it was weak.

Armsmaster spoke, his voice thoughtful. "We'll need to figure out your limits. What we know right now's pretty concerning, though. If Neptune was your projection...then you've got an unprecedented range. Vancouver's two thousand five hundred miles from here, yet Neptune had no issue operating that distance from you. No projection-Master on record has that kind of range."

Danny just nodded, swallowing hard. "On another note...did Dauntless manage to arrange what I asked?"

Armsmaster started for a moment, then he nodded. "Ah, yes. He did."

* * *

The Wards common room was dark. Hushed whispers went around it. It was a bit drafty, as the damage to the PRT building hadn't been fully repaired just yet.

The door clicked open, and Miss Militia, Protectorate Hero, and Scarlet Dragon, the Lady of Darkness, stepped inside.

The lights clicked on, and around the room a cheer went up, ten voices in unison. "Surprise!"

Scarlet Dragon stopped, her eyes wide, shock on her face. She looked around, a smile spreading on her lips as she took in the decorations. The banner stretching across the ceiling.

 _Happy Birthday_

And Danny Hebert, standing behind a table, a large cake with sixteen candles on it. Around the room were Victoria Dallon, Amara, Gallant, Clockblocker, Vista, Alucard, Meridia, Kid Win, Paladin, and the golden form of Dragon. Armsmaster was the only one who hadn't shouted, the Tinker looking uncomfortable with the whole thing.

As she looked at her father, Danny shrugged a little sheepishly. "You have no idea how hard it is to find a cake in the city right now. It would have been easier next week, but...it wouldn't have been on your birthday."

Miss Militia chuckled as she shut the door behind the surprised teenaged goddess. "And you have no idea how hard it was to keep us running around until then."

Scarlet grinned. "Right now? Not going to complain." She sniffed a little, wiping her cheeks. "Thanks. All of you. Thanks."


	80. Empire 7-6

A/N: It's been difficult getting this far, although rewarding. I'm hoping we can get to the end soon. Ish.

Next time will be the press conference. I've been having trouble going onward, and this part's pretty long as it is, so it should help a bit in keeping up my motivation. So yes, next time, team Castlevania's press conference!

* * *

I cracked open an eye.

The room was pretty messed up. Not in the sense of being destroyed, but definitely a mess. Gallant and Vicky were lying on the couch, Playstation controller wedged between them. Kid Win and Vista were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, Vista's head resting on his shoulder. Amy and Madison were tangled together, though both of them were unconscious.

I wasn't _that_ surprised, considering I and the Wards had basically stayed up all night playing video games and chatting, while the adults had gone on to things that interested them more.

A hand suddenly appeared right in front of me, holding a pack filled with blood. I looked up, clearing my throat as I took the pack. "Thanks."

Meridia grinned at me, a hint of fang showing. "Awake at last, My Lady?"

"Yeah." I checked my wrist. Sighed. Retracted the bracer to check my watch. Sighed again as I remembered I didn't actually have a watch on. Meridia looked amused as I reformed my bracer and took out my phone.

Huh. Four in the afternoon. It was pretty easy to lose track of time when you were in a room completely cut off from the sun. Though that was probably a good thing, considering both Amy and Meridia were here. Alucard could withstand the sun for a while, but the fledglings probably couldn't. Even with all the power I had, the sun was irritating, though barely so to me. I prefer to have my friends in good health, and not extra-crispy.

I lengthened my fangs and bit the top of the pack, drinking from it. Yep, didn't help much, but it did take the edge off my hunger. Though honestly, I still wanted to grab someone. Or stab something with the Void Sword..

Meridia watched me, an amused expression on her face. "You'd feel better taking from the source, My Lady."

I shook my head, a smile gracing my lips. "I'm trying to not eat people who don't deserve it, Meridia. Right now, that's a pretty short list." Still, I got up from where I'd been resting on the floor, stretched, sucked the entirety of the bloodpack down, and made my way over to the overflowing garbage can. "We've got things to talk about, though."

* * *

The two of us looked northward, out of one of the office windows. The view wasn't exactly spectacular, since we were facing another building. Still, from here, there was only a slight, small beam of sunlight that managed to enter through the windows, and Meridia could look out without being threatened by it.

Carefully, fearfully even, Meridia extended her hand and put it into the beam. The light ignited her skin on contact, flame bursting from the contact, and she hissed as she pulled her hand back, out of the light and tucking her burning hand underneath her arm, smothering the flame.

"What the hell?" I demanded, trying to pointedly ignore the scent of her burned flesh.

Meridia sighed as she pulled her hand back, examining it. Less than a second of contact with sunlight, and her hand had been reduced to ashes, only the bones resisting the immolation. Even as I watched, the wound was healing slowly, the flesh regrowing, though Meridia's face was a mask of pain as it did. "Attempting to push my power in the right direction, My Lady. Particularly strong vampires, like Lord Alucard, can resist the sunlight for a time, but the sooner I concentrate on the gifts I require to become a daywalker, the sooner I might achieve it. A moment's exposure every day, concentrating on healing and the toughness of my flesh, and I may acquire the strength I need to join you by daylight. Although it will take time."

That...was still very fucked up. I growled, extended my fangs, pricked my thumb and offered it to her. "You _really_ have to learn that the hard way, huh? Drink, then. It'll help you heal it."

Her eyes widened, as if I was offering her a precious jewel. With only a moment of hesitation, she took my thumb between her lips and gently suckled from it. I could feel her tongue flicking over the wound, seeking to get every drop before the wound healed itself.

Aand now she was licking in a sensuous way. I pulled my hand back and gave her a playful glare.

She looked somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry. Habit."

I sighed. "Can you please not turn everything into a sexual situation?"

Meridia lifted an eyebrow, looking amused now. "I _am_ still a succubus, My Lady. To ask me not to do that is like asking a mortal to not crave air."

I thought over that, and sighed again, my tone filled with defeated amusement. "You enjoy seeing my reactions to your suggestions though, huh?"

She grinned. "Very much, My Lady. Even for us immortals, life can be too fleeting to not enjoy oneself. Opportunities may come endlessly, but each is unique and often quite worth exploring." Her grin widened. "It's not often I get to enjoy someone like Newter, or even simply look over the things you take for granted." She gestured out the window, careful to keep away from the slowly shifting band of sunlight. "Castlevania was perhaps the largest fortress-city in the world, beaten only by the Holy City Solanar, and Solanar was no fortress. The inner city, yes, but the rest of it was sprawled outward."

I smiled a little. "Speaking from experience?"

She laughed. "Yes, actually. There were wonders of my world that are simply gone. It's difficult to really comprehend they're all destroyed, reduced to dust. For all the hatred we had for Solin, the Lord of Light had an empire that had more of a grip upon humanity than any other. It ruled to such a degree that it was difficult to imagine it ever would or could fall. We wished it gone, thanks to the desires Dracul forged in us when he created us, but...its success would have been a new beginning. Even if humanity had been replaced by us and the demon-blooded half-breeds, it would have been better than the eternal stagnation and unwitting slavery made by him." She looked pensive as she examined the building across the street. "Your people have powers that exceed those of the wizards and sorcerers of old, and you did so by learning from the natural world. What kinds of wonders might we have forged had we married magic and knowledge? It's enough to make me weep." Her voice was a little faint. "Mother would have enjoyed it. She would have loved all this. An entire interconnected, vibrant world, a world that wasn't stifled by a powerful, selfish idiot." She sighed. "Just one being strangled by the chained gods."

I didn't know what to say about that. So I tried something semi-safe. Hopefully. "Your mother?"

Meridia paused a moment, then she smiled sadly. "Yes. She was one of the first succubi crafted by Dracul. Alessandra. She was one of the best. Loving. Desirous. Beautiful." Her lips twitched in amusement. "And yes, My Lady, kinky and twisted by mortal standards."

Yeah, big surprise. Sixteen or not (Not sure it counted considering I was _dead_ for three months, but I wasn't going to try and get technical at this point) I was still too young for this kind of crap. I settled for sighing and shooting her a smile. "Let's just not go into detail there, huh? Maybe in...ten years."

She grinned at me, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Is that a promise, My Lady?"

I groaned. "Meridia..."

Meridia laughed softly. "Apologies, My Lady." She smiled fondly, turning back to the window. "In any case, my mother was one of those formed from the Shadow Plane at Dracul's will. She was not the first succubus, nor the last, but she is of the first generation of his creations. There are few of them left now. None of the succubi left in the castle, and only a few demons. It matters little, in this age. It's simply been too long, and it was rare for Dracul to form a new type of demon."

"I can guess. It's not that easy to form a block of metal out of nothing, there." I said, considering. I hadn't tried to make a living thing. Mostly because I had no idea what I'd make. And I wasn't that inclined to experiment. The idea of making a living thing that would immediately die because I forgot to give it lungs or a heart was...yeah, messy.

Meridia nodded. "You would know more than I, considering that you are the Lady of Darkness. I simply know it took a great deal of time and effort for Dracul to form enough of the castle for it to become alive, and for it to grow and alter herself from there." She looked at her hands, frowning a little. "It's simply...difficult, the changes your blood forced upon me, My Lady. It used to be to remember my mother, I would simply look in a mirror. Now when I do, I see a stranger. I'm...not used to it. And this change into a vampire made me more...demonic than I had been." She looked at me, her eyes widening as she realized what she said. "Not that I am displeased with the gift of your blood, My Lady. It has made me more than I was, granted me potential that would otherwise be beyond my reach. It is simply...an adjustment, and one that is not all that easy to get used to."

I looked down at my own hands. In my demonic form, they were cherry-red. I found the color pleasing, though part of that was my own vampiric instincts, I was sure. Red meant blood. I also had a pretty fair resemblance to Meridia. Well, I looked like _me_ , but with white hair, wings that belonged on my dragon shape, and my face which previously had been gangly and, while not quite ugly, hadn't exactly been pretty either. Maybe if I'd reached twenty-five instead of dying at fifteen, I'd have been somewhat attractive. Now while I was nowhere near as attractive as Meridia, I was still a lot prettier than I was used to.

But how would I feel if I couldn't see my own mother in my features anymore at all? That...was a lot harder to know how to feel about. And Meridia had a good point, too. If I'd been an ordinary vampire, the first sunrise would have either been painful or deadly. It was my strength as the Lady of Darkness that kept me from being killed right then. I looked at the ash littering the ground, the bits of Meridia's flesh that had ignited in the sunlight.

That, by all rights, should have been me. Hell, if the comparison between me and Dracul held any water, it looked like my new bloodline was by nature _more_ vulnerable to the sunlight than his was.

I cleared my throat and spoke. "I'm sorry you have to resort to this to try and resist the light, Meridia."

She shook her head. "Don't be. I was afraid, My Lady. I was afraid I would have to fight and claw my way back to corporeality once more. Unless you have experienced it, you cannot imagine how difficult, how painful it is to try. To lose fragments of your soul, your mind, your memories as you struggle to survive in the darkness." She looked at me seriously. "The last time I was killed, I forgot much. The memories of my mother was one of the few things I remembered when I reformed. You spared me losing that, and exalted me." She looked a little shy and embarrassed. "I confess I'm uncertain why you considered me worthy of it. But saving the parts of my soul that are precious to me, that I shall forever be grateful for, My Lady."

I blinked. "Wait...your memories are part of the soul?"

Meridia nodded. "The only way to remove memories from a person is to damage the soul to some degree. We succubi can feast upon the energies of the soul, but it damages the mind and wipes the experience from someone. The more we take, the more they lose...and it is not an exact process. Some of us are better at it than others, but the process is not simple. When we do it, the soul is...broken, fragmented in ways that is difficult to deal with. The damage can heal, given time, but the memories are gone, and the mind is fragile. There is always a void where the memories were, and the edges where they were shorn away tend to be...sharp, for lack of a better word."

Aaand now I was feeling a bit sick. "So...if I asked you to remove the memories of what Bonesaw did to Mark and Carol..."

Meridia nodded slowly. "I could do that...but I might also rip away other memories in the process. They might forget little things, unimportant things. Or they might forget parts of their childhoods, or their parents. They might forget that they have daughters. They may even forget the other, that they are married, or even whom the other was...every time we feasted upon Bakuda's soul, to make her forget that she had already broken at our hands, she lost more of herself. She has very little of her original soul left."

I nodded in horrified understanding, my voice quiet. "And if you took the whole thing, they wouldn't remember anything at all."

"Indeed, My Lady." Meridia spoke softly. "If they managed to survive the process, they would have nothing left. Some few things, perhaps, might remain. Language, some skills, but nothing about learning them. They would form new souls from that moment, as their minds developed...but it would not be the person they were. Like that of Newter, and perhaps the others like them. You kept me from experiencing that personally when you gave me your blood."

Damn. I...really had to learn a lot more about this crap.

Still, Meridia looked lost and forlorn, the sheer gratitude on her face striking me to my core. I gently squeezed her shoulder. "You've been loyal since I arrived, since I made my claim on the castle. When I announced myself, you were the first to stand up and pledge yourself to me. You've helped me at times, and...you've been a friend, Meridia. I haven't had very many for a long time. Before this, before I gained Dracul's power, I'd only had one real friend, and she betrayed me. Do you have any idea how much it hurt when she betrayed me? I was alone for a long time. My friends are _precious_ , Meridia, and you're one of them."

She was still for a moment, then she lowered her gaze. "I..I am flattered, My Lady. But it's..." She took a deep breath, obviously taking a moment to organize her thoughts. "It seems very odd to me that you consider me a friend. I am not your equal, My Lady. If I lived for ten millennia, I still would not be your equal. It would take me acquiring a godly mantle, and even then I would not be equal, for the Lords of Light and Darkness were always the strongest of the gods. It's overwhelming."

As I took a moment to think back through Dracul's memories, I understood. "Meridia..." I sighed and smiled gently. "People don't need to be equals to be friends, Meridia. I saw a lot through Dracul's eyes. He sat on Castlevania's throne, but he was miserable, because he was alone. I don't want to be like him. Not in the least. You might be a demon, but damn it, you've been a better person than a hell of a lot of humans I can think of."

Meridia blinked.

I chuckled at her expression. "You've proven yourself many times over, Meridia. But this was the big one. When the Siberian was approaching the bus, ready to kill people, and you got in her way, tried to stop her...what were you thinking?" As she opened her mouth, I held up a finger. "Be honest, Meridia. I'm making a point, not figuring out how to punish you."

She nodded slowly, then spoke with hesitation. "I knew what she was going to do. Not by her soul, I only realized too late she had none, but the way she walked...it was easy enough to see." She bit her lip. "She was a beast of rage and hatred, and she was unrestrained. I knew that she would murder without a care. I knew I had to stop her."

I nodded, a slight smile on my lips. "Why?"

She opened her mouth, then blinked again, confusion on her face. "Many reasons, My Lady. One being it was what I knew you would wish for me to do. Another being I know how you reacted upon seeing what we did with Bakuda. How you wish to be better than Dracul. It is unusual, but difficult to understand. I am...not used to a kinder Lord."

I let my smile grow. "And is that it?"

She looked uncertain, then spoke. "I am uncertain how to answer your question."

I patted her shoulder. "When you can answer it, you'll know why I consider you a friend. And I take care of my friends."

I turned and walked away, leaving my servant, and friend, alone with her thoughts.

* * *

I looked down at the forms before me. Tilted my head. Turned the forms upside down.

Nope. Made no more sense to me that way either. Though I was enjoying the looks I was getting from my father as I made a show of confusion. He had a look of amusement on his face.

"They're not that complicated," he said, tapping his fingers on the table.

I shot him a look, letting the amusement show in my eyes. "Says you. All this stuff's pretty much Greek. Or Chinese. I can recognize Greek."

I flipped the pages the right way back around. A week after my sixteenth birthday, and we'd finally gotten the paperwork ready to allow me to buy up a small bit of land in the Docks area. There was some difficulty, considering I was officially the head of a foreign nation, but in the end, it hadn't been too bad. They simply wanted to make sure I wasn't setting up a corporate headquarters there.

There wasn't any point to that. Not when Castlevania was large enough for me to have a nice and fashionable official HQ built there, anyway. I even had a nice tower picked out and everything. It was under renovation, but it was nice, square, tall, and impressive. In a severely-gothic kind of way, anyway. Not that I had much in the castle that _wasn't_ severely gothic. It started at vaguely disturbing and ended at oh-god-nightmare levels. The interiors were usually nice, though.

Well, nice-ish. I'm weird.

I turned the papers the right way up, scanned them carefully. While I was jesting about not understanding the legalese, most of this was pretty straightforward. I suppose when you're suddenly rich and powerful, in more ways than one, people line up to make your life easier. It wasn't fair, or right, but now that I was on the privileged side of things, I was going to take advantage of it.

Save the world now, build the world to be more fair later. That's my plan, darnit.

With a flourish, I signed. "There. Now I own a bunch of burned land." My dad and I shared a grin as I finished. "Now we can get started on my plan for world domination."

Dad cleared his throat, looking at me seriously, though the amusement in his eyes spoiled it somewhat. "As a member of the Protectorate, I'm afraid I'd be obligated to have to stop any plans for conquering the world."

I snapped my fingers. "Darn. First, you didn't even know you were a cape. Your power signed up, not you. Second, it's not like I'm asking for much!"

He smiled at me. "Just means Neptune and Salacia would be able to work at stopping you without me worrying about it. And the last time I checked, the world was a fair bit. I'm sure there'd be a lot of paperwork in owning the world."

I pouted at him. "So they decided on a name for the second one, huh? Salacia?"

He nodded, a bit shyly. "Yeah. Since she looks female and has the same powers. They think they can sell things as a separate Case 53." He licked his lips. "Hard to look at her, though."

I swallowed, my cheerful mood fading somewhat. "She looks like mom with angel wings, dad."

He sighed, settling back into his chair. "And Neptune looks like my grandfather, once that suit's on him. When I was a kid, I looked to him as my role model. Your great-grandfather always seemed like a rock, you know. Sturdy, immovable. I can't imagine him giving up on anything until he got killed. All I can tell from it is the back of my head's messed up."

"Not that messed up." I looked my dad in the eye. "Neptune fought against the Simurgh, dad. He didn't make it to Canberra, so he was up for Vancouver, but he did. When she buried me alive in the middle of the fight, he got me out. I think he was driven to help people, but more than that...to save me."

A moment passed, then a slight smile lifted on his lips. "Even though it was impossible, he did what I told him to do. Hell of a power I didn't know I had." He sighed. "Just wish I had a bit of control over it. I don't know how I made them, or what they're doing. They think I'm more like a foreman than the more typical Master. I tell them to do something, and they do it, like...well, one of the guys at the Docks."

I lifted an eyebrow. "That...actually sounds rather appropriate."

He smiled slightly. "Yeah. Not quite sure how to make another construct, though." He looked down at the table. "We'd better finish up these forms, Taylor. Least if we want to get anywhere."

I nodded, picking the pen back up with a sigh.

* * *

Another week later, I had one major thought at the forefront of my mind.

I didn't like cameras.

Yeah, I really didn't like cameras. Oh, they were useful, they were helpful, they let people record memories, make movies, get information around the world in minutes as opposed to weeks or months, but cameras did something that I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to.

They watched.

Yeah, I know, that's what cameras _do,_ and this wasn't the first time I was in front of cameras, but it was a keen reminder of me being in the public eye. It wasn't easy to get over that feeling of being watched, because being watched was the first step toward being _hunted_. You don't forget that feeling. With my helmet off, I felt a bit more vulnerable. Still, image was important, and I had to be approachable.

But, this was my own fault. I called them here so I wouldn't be so horribly terrifying.

I smiled (inwardly cringed) as I looked upon the crowd of reporters, their faces filled with rapt attention. And damn it, there were a _lot_ of people here. At least a hundred. I wasn't used to this kind of attention. I was _more_ used to it now, but...yeah. I hated this.

Okay Taylor, you can do this. You are the Dragon. Reporters aren't the worst thing you've faced.

I cleared my throat, letting the microphone in my hand capture my voice. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I want to welcome you."

I gestured around at the lot surrounding us. Golems were at work, building walls and repaving the roads, their actions being guided and ordered by the very human contractors the PRT got me in touch with. In other places, the Dockworker's Union was hard at work, putting up scaffolding, preparing power lines, and making sure everything was going smoothly. "I've seen much of your world. How much it has suffered at the hands of your Endbringers. The docks of this city are a testament to their power and destruction, even without ever having set foot here. This place has suffered for decades, and when I first came to this world, I witnessed it firsthand."

I gestured further back, at the city that was behind the crowd of reporters. "This world has suffered, and this city's a prime example. The good people here have suffered, and the barbarians that just wait for their opportunity have been hard at work, drawing from the lifeblood of it for their own gain. I stood against them because it was the right thing to do, to help the innocents and good people here just live out their lives. That is what most people have wanted."

I waved at my side, at the covered circular ring that rested, partially embedded, in the road right in the middle of the compound. With a gesture and a mental yank, I pulled off the white sheet that covered it, revealing the blackness of a permanently open Shadow Portal taking up the center of the ring. "Many of you know my power and might. Now I show my knowledge and share my treasures. This city will be the first place my people will work their magic. For this is a Shadow Gate, and it connects to another Shadow Gate upon my nation's soil. This is the first, but it will not be the last. Cities and communities the world over have been isolated, trapped and set apart. I am here to use my power, my gifts, and my knowledge to help bring us all together."

With another small push of my power, I lifted myself into the air, floating my way to in front of the ring. I landed on the black, freshly laid concrete before it, spreading my wings. I knew it was scary, but I wasn't going to hide. Not anymore. "This gate, and the gates I am in the midst of building, will be available to those cities and nations who are willing to purchase their use from me. I am here to help connect us all together, to help unite this world against her enemies. To rebuild the civilization that the Endbringers have threatened. To help the people of this world to dare to _dream_ again. And it starts _here._ I am here to give an invitation. Those of you before me today accepted, and I thank you for it. Please, I want to welcome you to my nation, Velnar, and her heart, Castlevania."

I strode through the gate, and emerged into Castlevania's courtyard, where another Shadow Gate was built up. The members of the press wouldn't realize it, but they actually had passed through four gates in less than a second. One in Brockton Bay, emerging from one in the Shadow Plane, that was _right up_ against another one in the Shadow Plane, and emerging here in Castlevania. I was quite pleased with the setup, really.

I strode forward, to emphasize that I was approachable, and not an always-flying god. Even if I could be. I hated this tightrope balancing shit. I could see where it was easier to go full tyrant mode.

I spread my arms as the press filed through, entering the courtyard. The castle's succubi were lined up, wearing formal wear and armor (and it had taken _quite_ a while to explain to them that they needed more than bare minimum of clothing.) With a grin, I spoke to the impressed-looking press. "This way, if you please. The dining hall is just ahead, and it has been made ready for you. Welcome, all of you, to my home. Welcome to Castlevania."

All right, first hurdle down. Now, here's hoping I don't screw this up.


	81. Empire 7-7

A/N: Busy busy busy. Other than that, I want to note, _I hate winter._

*shifty eyes*

Now maybe it won't show up? Maybe? Please? Can we skip right to spring?

* * *

The dining hall was useful for this purpose. It was large, impressive, and yet at the same time nice, warm, and comfortable. It was one of the nicest rooms in the castle, extraordinarily luxurious by medieval standards, and it was large enough to be easily converted into press room without too much fuss. Sure, cables had to be connected to gas generators to power the lights, because the torches were just not quite bright enough.

The dining hall's chairs were lined up in rows, while the front of the room, in front of a large and roaring fireplace had been cleared. Meridia was at work, wearing a red dress that definitely belonged in a high-class fashion show. It shimmered in the light of the fireplace, and despite her non-human shape, she made it look _fantastic_. Well, then again, she could make a paper bag look fantastic.

Aaand now I'm picturing Meridia in a paper bag and oh good my skin's already red so my blush doesn't show. Stupid emotional weirdness.

Alucard stood near the fireplace, and I...was really impressed. He was wearing a midnight blue set of armor, regal and elaborate in design, though it seemed to have made some changes in the armor plates for the sake of practicality. A gorgeous blue-lined cloak hung from his shoulders, a gold clasp kept the cloak in place, and the Crissaegrim was at his side, resting in a sheathe. He looked every inch like a warrior-prince. His slightly-scarred face had a look of amusement as he examined the press members filing into the room.

I moved to the front of the room, taking my place behind the podium. Alucard and Meridia both took their places at my side, Alucard at my left, Meridia at my right. I took a moment to gather in the expectant faces of the press. It was a sea of people from all over America, but I also spotted a reporter from England (couldn't remember his name, but he was a talking head) and a lady with a well-tailored suit standing next to him.

I cleared my throat, waiting a moment as the room quieted, the low murmurs of the press dying down.

Alright, showtime.

I smiled, pulling upon the confidence Gabriel had felt before a battle with the nightmares of humanity. Sometimes, it was really helpful to have been given so many of his memories, even if it wasn't anywhere near everything he had. "I'm glad all of you have accepted my invitation. Especially glad for those of you who have crossed great distances to get here. I know a lot of you have endured a fair bit of uncomfortable ordeals to arrive on my doorstep. After the conference, the attendants will help with what they can." I gestured to the sides of the room, where the succubi were lined up. "My people will attend to your needs, although you might want to bear with us." I grinned. "We're still working out the whole electricity thing."

A wave of chuckles passed through the crowd in front of me.

Feeling my confidence grow, I relaxed a little as I spoke. "A lot of you have questions. Many of them about me. Given the circumstances, I can understand that. More questions about this place, this small remnant of a nation that's now long dead. And even more about what happened to the world Velnar once called home. There's a lot of concerns, a lot of questions. I'm aware of how I appear." I let a wry smile spread over my lips as I spread my wings, letting the numerous cameras get a good look at them. "And how much I, and quite a few of my people look to certain figures of mythology. I look like a demon out of nightmare, and this room is lined with more examples of the same."

A few hands went up, I shook my head and gestured that they should go back down. I let my amusement be clear in my voice. "I'm going to answer your questions when I'm done." As the hands went down, I rest my hands on the podium. "There's a lot of history I would have to get into. That would take years to get into all the details of things. I'm not going to conceal anything of it. To put things shortly, however, what remains of Velnar is but the heart of her country. The world we came from was a world that had many fantastical things, but we're all that remains."

I looked at the rapt faces in front of me. "I won't lie. There's a lot of things in our history you would consider barbarous. Primitive. Bloody. Terrible. I understand the concerns you, and the people of your world have about us. We look like monsters. Some of us more than most. I have few abilities, few aspects of my power, that don't frighten people by their very nature. There's a reason for that. My world had powers for its entire history. Vampires, nymphs, mages, sea serpents, just about any kind of fantastical beast you can think of, it existed on my world. Here on your world, they were flights of imagination. There, they, _we_ , were very real. My world was a world of dreams, and nightmare. A world of magic."

I lifted a hand from the podium and called upon the flames of Chaos, forming a fireball. "Now I understand your world would call it differently. Powers, or physics yet to be understood, or depending on where you are, magic and witchcraft and devilry. To us, it was simply magic. That difference made things very different on my world as compared to yours. For most it took most of a lifetime to master. For some, a talented few, they could learn how to use their power within a decade or two. But above that, there were a privileged few. They were the gods of the world, with power enough to shake nations. The gods were, as far above an ordinary man as a man is above an ant. Today I am one of them. I am the Lady of Darkness. I am a goddess, one of many deities that once walked my world." I smiled faintly. "At least by our terminology. I understand that title is somewhat frowned upon by quite a few people on your world. Your world has some odd ideas about gods, at least from my point of view."

I clenched my hand, extinguishing the fireball. "When my world died, I was not one of them. I was nobody, I had no power, no magic. I was human, a nobody, trapped and tormented by the cruel machinations of fate, helpless at the hands of a system that cared nothing for the little people. The last Lord of Darkness, Dracul, was very much a brutal and terrible being. He was a tyrant, cruel and merciless. He was a vampire, but his thirst for blood was not simply from his nature, it was fueled by his desire for vengeance." I gestured at the walls. "This Castle was the center of a war that lasted for eight hundred years, and Dracul waged a war from here that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The only mitigating factor in that was that he was fighting against a regime that desired no less than the subjugation and enslavement of every living being on our world. Neither side of it was innocent or good. Dracul and his enemy, Solin, ended up dividing the world between them, and the hatred they had for each other was legendary."

I didn't have to fake it as I remembered the devastation Dracul had shown me. "The Destroyer came, then. We didn't know where it came from or why. We didn't know why it was killing people and rendering the world into a wasteland. It didn't care about ideological lines. It didn't care about the reasons that divided the gods. It didn't care how many people it killed, nor how much damage it did. It appeared and attacked each of the gods, one after another, and the chaos it left in its wake killed millions. None of them could stand against it, for one simple reason. We were divided. Each of the gods had power on the level and strength of that of Legend or Alexandria, but because of the war, the bad blood, the sheer hatred for each other that the gods had, when it came time to cooperate, to fight back against the Destroyer, it didn't happen. Each was found, alone, and alone, they fell."

Yeah, I had their _full_ attention now. "Even Dracul, when continents were rendered uninhabitable and there was but a fraction of people left alive, took the opportunity to kill Solin rather than even _think_ about working with his long-time enemy to save something more than just his own. True, Solin did not lift a finger to help his nation as the Destroyer devastated it, but the thought never crossed Dracul's mind. He put this place, this small fraction of Velnar, the city-fortress of Castlevania into his personal plane. You would call it a pocket dimension, though I understand there's a few differences. We did not know until recently what happened to Dracul, or what happened to what our world, or if the Destroyer survived.

"Make no mistake, Dracul was no saint. But he was wise enough to have a contingency in place for if he lost his battle with the Destroyer. He managed to kill it, but in the battle he was left trapped and alone on a dead world, with the rest of the gods slain. His power, which he was forced to separate from to manage to kill the beast, sought out someone else, one who was worthy of bearing it. Me. It made me the new Lady of Darkness. I and I alone had the means to free Castlevania from the place it was kept safe within the planes. But I was still young yet, still frail. Still learning about my strength and the power of the god I am. Still adjusting to the changes it forced upon me. It didn't help that I then, in desperation, had to reach across worlds to reach yours."

I let an amused smile rise on my face. "Something about Brockton Bay made it easy for me to arrive there. I was weakened by the journey, I remembered little. But when I was there, confused, with my thoughts in a fog, there were those there who helped me. People both with and without powers. I very quickly discovered Victoria Dallon was the best friend anyone could ever have. I discovered Amy Dallon was a shy person, but a kindred spirit, someone who was forced to carry the world on her shoulders. I discovered Carol Dallon was a spirited woman, determined to fight anyone and everyone, even _me,_ if it meant protecting her daughters. I discovered Mark Dallon, a good man who cared, more than he could ever show, more than he ever knew how to show."

I let my voice quiet somewhat. "I know many have mourned the loss of Amy Dallon, of Panacea. I recall the Panacea Memorial Donation Fund, which is currently raising money from around the world. Its goals are laudable and noble, to fund the research into medicine, prosthetics, and healing until the day comes that nobody requires a parahuman power we barely understand to be healed. It'd a laudable cause, and I know Amy would approve." Still approves, even if we're keeping that much quiet.

"The Simurgh was what you feared most. I helped slay it, and I'm glad I did. But that day, which I am sure will be celebrated for centuries in the future, is also a reminder of the day my friend died." I took a moment to take a deep breath, looking on the expectant faces before me. "When the Slaughterhouse Nine arrived in Brockton Bay, they sought to attack _you_ through me, and through those who ever helped me. New Wave gave me friendship, and they were attacked by the Nine for it. The Protectorate and the PRT helped me learn about this world, and even gave me help and aid, telling me how things were here. And they, too, were attacked for it, by targeting the Wards. I would call them scum, but that would be an insult to scum.

"I do not regret my part in the end of the Nine. Many people breathe much, much easier now, knowing they are gone. Their dead victims rest a little easier, and their living victims now have some measure of justice. But the damage they've done, the people they've hurt, it's not so easily healed as giving a few platitudes. It takes action, and hard work." I smiled ruefully. "Of course, money helps in these matters. For my part in the end of the Slaughterhouse Nine, I was awarded the sum of a little over sixty-seven million dollars. Some of that I used to purchase that small bit of land in the Brockton Bay docks district. That will be the first of many Shadow Gates I am building for use. For now, it connects here, but that is a temporary arrangement.

"Still," I smiled. "That has left me a fair bit of money to work with. Fifty-five million dollars, which...admittedly, is very impressive by most people's standards." I swept my hand, gesturing at the walls to the room. "However, I am not exactly hurting for wealth, that much is merely a matter of turning what assets and services I have into money that might be used. And so I am announcing where the rest of the money is going. Twenty-five million dollars will be donated to the Panacea Memorial fund, because I want to honor the work my friend dedicated her life to. An additional twenty-five million will be donated to the Sarah Kissinger fund."

Murmurs started to rise from the reporters, and I lifted a hand, gesturing for quiet. Once the room was in order again, I spoke with all the conviction I could muster. "I learned much about the acts of the Nine. Sarah Kissinger is the first known victim of their most feared member, Gray Boy. For more than twenty years, she has been trapped in a cage of time, unable to sleep, unable to rest. It was early in his career, from my understanding, and so she is 'merely' a prisoner. She is not being tortured with every passing moment. But for all that time, she has been trapped there, in what used to be an Oklahoma shopping mall. Now what remains is a research center, working, studying, trying to free her.

"As I'm sure most of you know, the Sarah Kissinger fund was originally raised to try and find some means of freeing her from her own personal hell. In time, it expanded to try and make the lives of those trapped, as she is, as comfortable as possible, and when works there seemed fruitless, they changed their mandate. They help the victims of the Slaughterhouse Nine. The people whom the Nine hurt without a care, the rest of humanity has tried to help."

I looked at the sea of faces. I had them, I could see it. "That's what's impressed me the most, you know. My world fell because we were divided. Dracul fought the Destroyer alone and managed, at best, to only take it with him when he lost. The worst part of it is he is not dead. Like Sarah Kissinger, he is trapped, alone, on what little remains of our ruined world, and we cannot aid him. But you, all of you, confronted with _three_ Destroyers...I'm sorry, Endbringers, fight, again and again. You band together. You help each other in need, to scramble together and help complete strangers. Even those of you who are reviled or commit terrible acts otherwise, when the need is plain, stop and help. For more than twenty years, Sarah Kissinger has been suffering as the world, as the life she _should_ have passed her by. And yet, you try and aid her. You've suffered losses, seen your heroes fall, and even when things seem hopeless and bleak, you fight still.

"I helped free you of the scourge of the Endbringer, the Simurgh. But I didn't fight there alone. Many fought with me, and had I been alone, I would have lost. I fully intend to fight again, when the other two emerge once more. I will pour all of my power towards ending them, to help give your world the future that mine was denied. Because you _deserve_ it. You fought for it. Many have died for it. The people of your world are no sheep, led meekly and gently to the slaughter. When the time comes, I will ask for you to stand with me again. I am the Scarlet Dragon, the Lady of Darkness, and ruler of the night. I am a goddess of the darkness, but I ask for your respect, not your fear. I bring fear to those who _deserve_ it. You are worthy of my protection."

I grinned, being careful to keep my fangs retracted. "It is only my hope that I am worthy of you. Thank you."

A moment of silence passed, then hands went up, murmurs quickly turning into shouts.

My smile grew as I pointed to the first to catch my eye. "Yes?"

The middle aged blonde looked back at me, an excited look on her face. "Grace Tepid, from Para-Religious Investigators, I have a question for Scarlet Dragon. There has been many questions about you since you and Dragon killed the Simurgh. Are you seriously claiming to be God?"

I chuckled, shaking my head. "No. Not with the understanding of a god in your culture, at any rate. I am a goddess. I do not require tribute or worship for it to be so. I had no hand in creating my world, nor did any of the others. Solin _claimed_ he created all things, but that was a lie made to his followers, and history he put a great deal of effort into erasing showed he was one of many who had his particular position. Dracul, too, was once a man, a hero, who Solin manipulated and deceived. I was once an ordinary girl, betrayed and left to die in a barbaric society left on the outskirts of civilization."

Take that, Winslow. I cleared my throat as I finished. "Gods rise and fall, born of humanity...well, in truth, born of beings with the capacity to think, to imagine, to dream, to speak. Some of us were never human, in fact. But whatever you believe about me, I am a goddess. The power that comes with it is the reason for my..." Helplessly, I spread my arms, and wings, emphasizing my point. "Current appearance. I am more than a goddess, but not simply one. If you observe the portraits in this room, you can see the faces of many previous Lords of Darkness. Dracul, Typhon, Hannazar, Tiamat, Mara. The list goes on. Our history books will be made available as soon as possible, but it will take some time to translate things."

Grace spoke before I could gesture to the next person. "One more, please. How does your position as a goddess affect your political power? Do you have your throne as a matter of divine right, or is there some other measure of selection?"

I nodded. "Here, there is no difference between religious and temporal power. I am Velnar's god-queen. I am her god-queen because I was worthy of the power, physically and mentally, to handle it without going mad with it. I could give up the throne in principle, and one day I may do so. That, however, may be some time in the future, because there is much to do, and I am keenly aware of the difficulty in getting something done if it isn't done personally. There's simply too much at stake for me to settle back and take a more ceremonial role."

I gestured to the next person, a bald man with glasses, wearing a very classy suit. "Gordon Carls, ParaWars Forum News, what do you say to the accusations against you for disrupting shipping, flights, and taking control of American territorial waters in the Atlantic as they have been claimed during World War Two?"

Huh. I'd expected something like that, but not from an argument about something claimed more than sixty years ago. "I checked carefully before bringing the island here. It may have been claimed as territory during that war, which I understand was a far larger and bloodier conflict than any my world ever had, at least until the Destroyer came, but it was firmly international waters as of the beginning of the twenty-first century and no nation had claim over it when I brought Velnar here. The disruption in shipping is minimal, as that industry has been damaged by the Endbringer Leviathan long before I arrived. And while flights were disrupted, that I apologize for, Velnar is not difficult to avoid, and I'm actually looking into building the required infrastructure for civilian flights here, myself. I understand the concerns about where Velnar is now, but I'm confident that what I offer is well worth the inconvenience."

I pointed at the next upraised hand.

A blond man wearing a forest-green suit stood up and spoke, his voice clear. "Nathan Graves, with Channel One 'Today's Marks', two questions! Scarlet Dragon, are there currently any plans for immigration to or from your...island? And for Mister...erm, Alucard? Is that right? Alucard, the ladies have to know, pictures abound on the internet about your physical shape, is that something other men can achieve, or are they an effect of your powers?"

I fought to repress a smile as Alucard looked embarrassed. I spoke with amusement. "Immigration's one of the things on the table. We've got a lot to do here, unfortunately, and I'm afraid Velnar's a fair bit behind technologically. The living standard here isn't exactly great, and we have little food. Most of us survived the journey here due to the oddities of the Shadow Plane, but right now, we haven't got much of the essentials for immigrants here. This is one of the reasons I am pushing to build a gate network, it will simplify things greatly when it comes to such things."

Alucard spoke, shifting a little on his feet. "Train from the age of ten to be a warrior, live with no expectation of another life. My powers keep me in peak condition, but it is attainable. I do not recommend it, however. Few are prepared for such hardships, and the horrors I have experienced are not worth it."

Another hand went up, and I nodded.

A brunette woman in a white suit stood, smiling. "Annette Solaire, with the PharmaToday Magazine and Online News Network, we're curious as to any Medical advancements you and your people might be able to provide...and can I get your autograph for my daughter?"

I laughed softly. "I'm actually working with the PRT to look into possible medicines and such. Due to my nature, I require very little tending, and a lot of the beings here in Velnar lack the need, as well. That being said, it's possible there's something we've overlooked, or some kind of plant might be a basis for a restorative I'm unaware of. And secondly... I would be pleased to give an autograph."

She had a wide grin on her face as she sat back down.

A man with a white suit and a bowtie stood, his voice coming clearly. "William Nye, National Geographic. You mentioned the similarities between you and your citizens to creatures of mythology. Can you comment on that? Has there been previous contact between our two worlds?"

I shrugged. "To the best of my knowledge, there has been no contact between our worlds. I can speculate that, perhaps, some vampires or other fantastical creatures came to your world, but we have no records of such things. There is simply too much lost on our end to be sure of such things. When I have the time, I'd actually like to try and track some of these legends down, but I am simply not hopeful. It's an idle curiosity, and right now I'm more concerned with the future, not the past."

I spread my wings to help emphasise my point. "If I were seen by someone on your world a millennium ago, I would be called a devil, a monster, and probably a great deal of other profane things." I shrugged. "And yet there have been ordinary people on your world who caused pain and suffering to more people than even Dracul did upon mine, despite the fact he had eight centuries to inflict his damage. People are monsters, or not, by their actions, not their nature. A hound is not a monster simply because he must eat meat. A hound is a monster only when it delights in pain. I suspect if any of us came to your world previously, they did so in the hopes they could avoid being slain by those they hurt or killed, and continued acting here like rabid dogs. It might also explain why they are merely myth and not fact, here. Rabid dogs tend to be put down."

Another hand went up, and I pointed at it's owner. "Yes?"

A man wearing a dark gray suit, his brown hair peppered with white streaks stood. "John Ashcraft, Brockton Gazette. You mentioned the Sarah Kissinger fund. With all your powers, will you be able to do something to help the Gray Boy victims?"

I sucked in a breath. "I honestly don't know. It is my hope that I might be able to. I'm actually working with Dragon in trying to find some solution to the issue. It may be possible that somewhere in this castle may be something that might help toward that end. I want to help those people, because _no-one_ should have to suffer that fate. But, I can make no promises toward that. My powers, as great as they are, may not be suitable to that. Goddess or not, I am limited in some ways."

A ruggedly handsome man in his mid-thirties stood up next. "Bill MacVoy, from ACN. Have you opened up diplomatic relations with other nations of Earth Bet, and how are they going? What is your population like, and how have you sustained yourselves for so long in your pocket dimension?"

I smiled at him. "We've opened tentative talks with not just the United States, but also Canada and Australia. My part in the death of the Simurgh has given me a fair bit of goodwill with those two nations especially. We're in the midst of working out some trade agreements, but I hope you can forgive me if I try not to go into too much detail on them at this time. As for sustaining ourselves in the Shadow Plane, it wasn't easy. Most of us had to go into hibernation, ration supplies a fair bit. Luckily the forest surrounding this castle had quite a few resources we could draw upon. The Shadow Plane is also a bit more malleable to us, even without the power of a goddess."

A man in his forties, with a thin but cultivated black beard sprung to his feet. "James Stark here, quick question, what types and goods and services are you planning to export to other countries? And along those lines, do you plan on signing any extradition treaties with other nations?"

I nodded at him. "Goods and services will be offered, of course. Gates will be for rent or sale, as well as expertise in various things. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my people were hired by the Protectorate to help fill out the ranks in places, or if certain weapons and armor designs happened to appear in the hands of law enforcement. We need to do a fair bit of experimenting to see if some courses of action are cost-effective or practical. We're trying to make things as smooth as possible. As for extradition, that depends on the country. That's something I can't say too much about at the moment, otherwise I'll be listing policies country by country here all day."

A younger man in his mid-twenties got up, his smooth voice reaching me easily. "Gary Tollman, Entertainment Today. Scarlet Dragon, the word around Hollywood is that a certain top producer wants to do a picture about your people's plight as your original world fell, followed by the arrival and integration with ours leading to the victory with the Simurgh. Can you shed any light on the project?"

I blinked. I wasn't expecting that one. "I've heard nothing of such a project. I don't mind the idea in principle, I'd like to be a bit more involved in it if it comes around, but I've been rather preoccupied. I need to get back to you on that one."

An old man stood up, wearing an expensive-looking business suit. "Hugh Marston Hefner, chief creative officer of Playboy Magazine. Scarlet Dragon, I'll cut right down to the chase: We'd like an in-depth interview with you, and to have Ms. Meridia here do a photoshoot for our December issue. Since money doesn't seem to be a concern, we're proposing half the profits of the issue be donated to a charity of your choice."

I blinked. Coughed. Blinked again.

Oh.

 _Oh._

That really just happened, huh? I...hadn't noticed his name in the list. Or I just glossed over it. I wasn't expecting this. Stupid, stupid Taylor.

I risked a glance over at Meridia. She was looking back at me with a wide, eager expression. Finally I spoke. "Well, I'll certainly consider doing the interview. As for Meridia posing, you'd have to ask her."

Meridia smiled eagerly. "I would be pleased to grace the covers of your magazine. Are you certain I will be desirable, however?" She shyly tapped her horns. "I am not exactly your typical woman."

Hugh smiled charmingly. "My dear, you are without a doubt the most exotic beauty we would ever have featured in a photoshoot, but make no mistake about it, you _are_ a beauty."

Meridia _preened_. Oh dammit. She was going to be insufferable for a while.

A younger man sprung to his feet, his hair sprouting off in all directions wildly, speaking so fast I could barely keep up. "I'm FlyingFree, author of the site! Now that you've killed the Simurgh and inherited the Illuminati, what are your plans for the Senate, and can you confirm or deny the presence of brain slugs from Pluto in the court system? And what about the undercover angels you've inserted into the local police? Has the experiment been a success? And was the author of timecube onto something?"

...what?

I just blinked. Tried to parse that.

No, rerunning that a second time through my head made no more sense of it.

Meridia spoke up helpfully. "I do believe this one is completely insane, My Lady."

I sighed. "I gathered _that._ Of everything you said, I only killed the Simurgh. Whatever else is on your list, if they exist, they're not mine. I have no idea what you're talking about. At all."

The speaker cackled. "It's okay to deny it for now, but remember, the truth will out, and cannot be denied! Truth! TRUTH!"

He promptly tried to dash off to a side corridor, flailing madly, only to run face-first into a golem that stepped in his way. As he was reeling, he was promptly grabbed and pulled to the floor by three of the succubi, holding him to the floor.

I cleared my throat as I looked out on the crowd of reporters, trying very had not to face-palm. "Well. That just happened." Great move, Taylor. Next time, _pay more attention to the list._

Very faintly, from underneath the succubi were the lunatic's muffled words. "This is the greatest day of my life!"


	82. Interlude: Lisa, Canary, Apostle

A/N: I had the main theme from _Thor_ playing in my head as I made this chapter. Well, the last part. Seemed appropriate.

* * *

Taylor slumped on her throne, a goblet filled with blood in her hand. She sipped from it, a sigh escaping her.

"That could have gone better." Lisa spoke with some amusement, her back resting against a pillar off to the side of the throne. "On the plus side, the lack of outright lies will help a fair bit if people start digging. Good amount of misdirection, too. I don't think too many people are going to be looking for your civilian identity in Brockton Bay. Things are still a bit iffy, though. I tried covering my tracks as best I could when I went to you, but if I could find your dad's place..."

Meridia, on the other side of the throne, sat there with a giggling, and very drunk, succubus in her arms. "Enemies might, as well. Still, the misdirection may be helpful, My Lady."

"Just hoping those smart enough to find my dad are also smart enough to not piss me off.." Taylor said, a huff of annoyance in her voice, as well as a slight slur. "Need to..uhm. What was next on the list?"

A giggle from the red-haired succubi on the floor. "More scotch?"

Meridia slapped the other woman's fingers. "No more scotch, Lilliandra, you've had enough. And you need more to drink." As the other succubus open her mouth, Meridia shushed her. " _Not_ wine, ale, or spirits. You need to replace your blood, after all."

Lilliandra's eyes grew wide. "But, but, if the Lady needs my-" She hiccuped then, and blinked furiously.

Meridia looked between Lilliandra and the slumped form of Taylor on the throne. "I think she's had enough too."

Lisa sighed as she rubbed her temples, turning toward Taylor. "When was the last time you slept?"

Taylor blinked owlishly.

Lisa crossed her arms. "Seriously. You still need to sleep, right?"

"I can go days without sleep, and there's a lot for me to do. Can't find Apostle, even with portals. The damn things just fizzle when I look for him." Taylor spoke with a scowl, tapping her fingers on the armrest of the throne. She took another drink from the goblet.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "And you're doing...what, right now? Brooding on the throne." She stepped closer, taking a sniff. "And that blood you're suckling down has _way_ too much alcohol in it to be healthy for either you or Lilliandra, there..."

Taylor slouched a bit more. "You try and figure out how to get drunk when you're undead. Heh. Undeed. Turns out? I can't get drunk by drinking directly. Nope, I have to get it from someone who's been drinking first. Doesn't even work if I just mix booze with the blood, either. Nope, they gotta-gotta get drunk first, then I can...can...uhrm. What was I saying?"

The Thinker sighed. "And so now you're trying to get drunk that way. Okay, so why are you trying to get drunk? Things didn't go _that_ badly at the conference."

Meridia frowned as she looked at her liege. "I must agree, I fail to see what went so terribly that we had to go to these lengths, My Lady."

A soft laugh from the Lady of Darkness. "Not the conference. Just one question. Hollywood project, all about the fight at Vancouver."

Lisa gestured. "What? I don't see a problem with it, unless they screw it up...they will screw it up, of course. But...wait. You don't mean..."

Taylor nodded seriously. " _Michael Bay_. They want _Michael Bay_ to direct a movie about me. About me!" She finished off the goblet and tossed it aside, a low hiss escaping her. "I'm so very tempted to walk right in there and scream at them. Something along the lines of... of... What is an executive but... something something! I don't know! Tell them to just haul in someone competent!"

Meridia opened her mouth, then closed it, shaking her head with a bemused smile.

Lisa sighed and shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Right. Underage drinking aside... you need a break."

Taylor mumbled. "Too much on me. Just too much. Nothin' gets done less I do it."

Meridia lifted a a hand. "I can handle your affairs for a few hours, My Lady. Get some rest."

A sigh escaped Tattletale, and she went to Taylor's side, hauling the young ruler to her feet. "Let's just get you to bed, a nice, comfy bed, so you can relax and get sober. Things will look better in the morning. But first thing? I suggest you start delegating. Can't do all this yourself, girl."

"Nah-uh. Too much on me, gotta do it."

Lisa spoke with exaggerated patience. "All the more reason to delegate. More hands you have working for you, the easier it'll be."

The pair stumbled, unsteadily, toward the throne room doors.

Thwap. "Ack! Stupid wing!"

Taylor just giggled drunkenly. "Must stop Michael Bay. Wings of Fate movie, must stop Wings of Fate movie..."

"Ugh. And hitting me over the head with _your_ wing is supposed to help with that?" Tattletale spoke with annoyance, rubbing the back of her head. "You better be giving a good dental package for all this..."

The pair went out the door, leaving Meridia and Lilliandra alone in the throne room.

The living succubus looked at the vampiric one. "Can we have a bit of...?"

"No." Meridia said firmly. "We'd never get the stains out."

"Aww."

* * *

Paige Mcabee opened her eyes.

She'd expected to see the bland, off-white of the ceiling of her cell in the Birdcage. Over the last few months, it had become familiar. Never comforting, of course, but familiar.

Instead, she sat up as she saw a crystalline ceiling above her, shining white and shimmering, casting a just barely visible rainbow over the floor. The bed she was on was comfortable, soft, and the blanket was warm. On the side of the room was a table, also made of crystal, and sitting innocently on it was a covered silver tray.

"H-hello?" She spoke. While she didn't exactly _like_ the Birdcage, she'd learned to know what to expect there. What had happened?

She couldn't help but shiver. Had someone in the prison taken control of her mind? Making her see this while they did...horrible things to her? Lustrum wouldn't stand for it, but that wouldn't stop a lot of them. Superpowered maniacs weren't exactly the model of restraint, after all.

The wall retracted, and a woman wearing golden armor stepped into the room. It would have been difficult to tell it was a woman, on first glance. The armor itself gave few hints, but the face was exposed, showing a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, with black hair. Her features seemed...somehow plain. Pretty enough, but not eye-catching.

"Hello Canary." The woman spoke, leaning against the doorframe. "I hope you like your new arrangements. You weren't safe in the Birdcage, and you didn't deserve to be in there."

Paige swallowed, pulling the sheets around her more closely. "W-who?"

A gentle smile rose on the woman's face. "I'm Dragon. We never met in person, previously. The last we talked was before I sent you into the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center. I am sorry for that, but at the time, I had no choice in the matter." She gestured at the room. "You, and a few others who were sentenced to the Birdcage unjustly are here, in the Plane of Light. Unfortunately I can't just give you freedom on my own, if someone found you out on the streets there wouldn't be anything keeping you safe. We'd have to help swing public opinion back to your side before releasing you would be a smart idea, and that's going to be difficult. I want to, but I'd rather you not get shot by some 'good citizen.'"

Paige got up, noting she was still wearing her prison uniform. "How did you...?"

Dragon shook her head. "It would take quite a while to explain, Canary. I've got a method to teleport things in and out of the Birdcage without risking others getting out. It's recent, but useful." She gestured around at the room. "Right now you're in a new facility. It's not much, right now, but it's a start, and building things here is getting easier and easier. But first..." Dragon grinned as she went to the covered tray and lifted it.

Paige's mouth watered as the smell of bacon and eggs filled the room. Nice, simple, but compared to the food in the Birdcage, it was heavenly ambrosia. She nearly dived at the tray.

Dragon laughed softly. "Easy now, take it slow Canary. You don't want to choke."

Paige muttered around a mouthful of bacon. "Raghrf mrhl pgirag."

Dragon just looked amused. "What was that?"

Paige swallowed, looking a bit sheepish. "Call me Paige."

* * *

David floated in the void, holding Noelle to his side. The young woman had regenerated from her ordeal perfectly, a pretty, thin woman once more, instead of a writhing monstrosity just barely in check. She looked at the destination ahead, a clear, seemingly glass platform, on which rested a sphere, with several hundred long gray filaments connected to it.

With David's hold on a power that manipulated gravity, it wasn't exactly difficult to carry her weight. Added with a flight power and a perception power, required to navigate this strange place, and the task was fairly simple.

Still, given the whirling maelstrom of energies that made up the realm of the Lord of Time, it was a deadly place, unsuitable to most mortals. It was no wonder they'd had no idea where the Endbringers came from, where they were 'born' or how they emerged. There had been speculation, of course.

Behemoth's first appearance was when he tore his way through the Earth's crust, forming not just a channel where a new volcano formed in the months afterward, but an extreme amount of damage when he destroyed the Marun oil fields.

Leviathan's first appearance was in Oslo, pulling his way from the ocean to rip and tear at the city, damaging the base of the continental shelf before he could be driven back. There hadn't been warning, the act was completely unexpected.

The Simurgh appeared from the void of space, coming from in behind the moon before arriving in Switzerland to crush the hopes and faith of the world. The move had seemed to be perfectly calculated to crush the hope that a saviour might emerge, to save the world, or even to save humanity from the slow death the two others had been inflicting on the planet.

But all this was simply wrong. Cauldron hadn't known where the Endbringers were coming from, even with the aid of the Clairvoyant, because they were hibernating. Not on Earth, not on any of the Earths. But bound halfway between each god's plane and the empty universes and pocket planes their shards were bound within. It wasn't very expected, but it was ingenious. Not just as a method to _hide_ the bound gods from sight.

It was a method to _harvest_ the energy of their planes, channel it into the shards, and feed off it like a gigantic parasite. Without the gods themselves acting as a conduit to the planes, the shards connected to them would have had a very difficult time reaching them. The Entity that managed the trick would never have succeeded if it hadn't been for deep enmity between the gods. Simply being on speaking terms, sharing the knowledge, knowing that something had happened to the other gods, and more than two might have escaped enslavement.

Then David wouldn't have to be trying to navigate a maelstrom of twisted, broken time to reach Chronos.

It was akin to trying to fly into a hurricane. Walls of frozen time were in front of him, impassable, the air molecules harder and more immovable than a mountain. Above were whirling, chaotic bands of time, moving in parallel. No easier to cross than the frozen walls, pressing a hand beyond the border would make that hand age and crumble to dust in the instant it takes for the nerves to transmit the feeling of pain.

Noelle, of course, was completely blind to the borders between time-shifted regions. Her voice was quiet. "Can you still see the path?"

David nodded. "There's a passage ahead. It winds around, but it's there. Chronos is trying to make a way through."

Noelle couldn't see any of it, but David could. A single path through the solid wall of frozen time in front of them, barely wide enough to take the pair. It was a convoluted, twisting path, but it existed, and it led to the platform upon which an Endbringer would emerge, if not stopped.

 _Right, then up twenty feet. Move forward ten. Hold in the clear space as the maze twists around and shuffles as Chronos struggles to manipulate the shards. Move forward once more._

It was a harrowing experience, and the worst of it was, the danger was utterly invisible to ordinary human senses. One false step and its owner would lose that foot, or a hand, or a _head,_ to age and decay.

It took a seeming eternity to reach the platform. The eye of the storm. The black sphere at the center of the maelstrom pulsed, the gray shard-connections digging into it, leeching from it.

Noelle swallowed as she looked at the core, then down at her hands. "This is a lot to take in. Are you _sure_ I can do this?"

David nodded. "You can sense my shard, can't you? You could sense Trickster's, too. This isn't any different. You just have to reset them, set them so they're not connected anywhere."

"This is a little bit different." She said wryly. Still, she stepped forward, placing a hand on the gray tendrils connected to the bound god. Her power touched them, rushed through them, echoing not just through the connections holding the god at their mercy, but through the command David had on those shards. It felt like ice water pouring through the back of his brain.

The feeling of her power danced and echoed over David, but the bound god Chronos felt it far more severely. The sphere that acted as the god's prison distorted, spacetime clenching and rushing over its surface.

Still, with a strange shudder through the realm, one by one, the gray cords that were bound to the god snapped, disappearing into the dimensional barriers that humans just weren't equipped to see with their eyes. To mundane sight, they merely vanished. To David's enhanced vision, they were pulled back into the places their shards were residing, disappearing as if they fell into nothingness.

The gray lines connected to the core pulsed as Noelle's power touched them. Her eyes grew wide as she breathed. "So many of them..." She stood still for a moment, her fingers twitching, then she shook herself and concentrated. Lines severed as she worked her power upon them, and with each one, the realm around David and Noelle shifted and shuddered.

Then when they were down to fifty lines, a horrible scream echoed from within the sphere. The connections snapped one after another, without Noelle's touch, and the sphere abruptly cracked open. A night-black figure was suddenly disgorged, freed, curled into a ball and sobbing in pain and anguish. The hurricane of distorted time around the three slowed, until it eventually stilled completely.

A moment passed, then the figure seemed to be sobbing in fast-forward, his cries coming in an unending, nearly painful keen. Another moment, then he was standing, moving normally, looking at the pair.

"Thank you." The figure spoke, as his entirely white, glowing eyes looked at the pair, the only hint at a face, as the being seemed to lack lips, a nose, or anything else. He was fat, and short, barely coming even up to David's chest, but he wasn't simply black-skinned. He was a void, darkness itself, the air seeming to twist and shimmer as it passed through his body.

"I am Chronos, Lord of Time. I thank you for freeing me from the bonds I feared I would never be free of."

David bowed his head. "I am David, _your_ Apostle. This is Noelle, your liberator. Our world needs your help."

A shift in that inhuman face. The equivalent of a smile. "You shall have it."

David returned the smile. _Two free. Eighteen to go._


	83. Empire 7-8

A/N: Okay guys, breathe. The world is insane. We all know that. So let's just enjoy a story that makes sense. With vampire dragons, succubi everywhere, gods appearing to answer prayers, monsters crushing cities every three or four months, and explosions galore.

* * *

I frowned as I looked at the sheets in front of me. With a little bit of care, I tapped a line. "This one needs a lot more detail, and you know it. I'm not about to just drop a major Shadow Gate and put such extensive modifications on it without the reason."

The woman in the gray suit looked back at me, a little bit of surprise in her eyes. Her voice was thick with an upper-class British accent. "I can assure you, the United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce has extensively tailored this order to international law. Recent changes in commercial law in the United Kingdom helped streamline the process. It's quite legal to hire a foreign national company for shipping. Yours is new, but the potential is quite worth investigating."

I clucked my tongue and shook my head. "Oh, everything's fine as far as the order itself goes. But this one line right here tells me that someone is trying to pull something over me, and I don't appreciate it, Secretary Elena. I can certainly understand the issues with not wanting an always-open gateway to a given Gate. This is precisely why the suggested infrastructure around it is an armed checkpoint. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to see exactly the need for the more elaborate measures here. Reinforced for atmosphere, radiation shielding? The Gates have been used for thousands of years, they're safe."

Elena smiled and shook her head. "This may be well-known to you, but not to us. We want to be careful. And even if the Gates are as safe as you claim, the environments they're placed in may not be."

I lifted an eyebrow.

Seeing she had my attention, her smile widened. "Are you aware of the history of the last century on this world, Miss Scarlet? Specifically, the space race between the Americans and the Soviet Union?" At my nod, she went on. "The United Kingdom never did our own equivalent of the Apollo program. It was partially a demonstration of the power and accuracy of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it wasn't required for our arsenal to have that range. But there were always some in the populace that wanted our own program, and contributed to the American program when it was ongoing.

"Fast-forward thirty years, and the Endbringers arrived. When we realized they weren't going to stop attacking, the governments of the world went looking into possibilities of colonizing off-world. It wouldn't have been ideal, but it would have permitted something of civilization, of humanity, to survive. Now one of the difficulties in creating an off-world colony is self-sufficiency. You need a lot of room to grow crops, living quarters, systems for water reclamation, and all that is very difficult to launch into orbit reliably. It takes tremendous energy to break the Earth's gravity well. If your gates have the range to reach across the planet, then it's possible for them to reach Earth orbit. Or perhaps even further. But the important thing is, from Earth orbit, you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system, in terms of fuel if not distance. Even if you can't just plant a gate on the Moon for easy colonization, you can get there. But... space is a very hostile environment."

I blinked as I understood. "I see. You're not thinking of sending crops from one side of England to the other, you're thinking of sending crops to the Moon, or Mars, or a ship in flight."

Elena nodded with a grin. "Precisely. If they're mobile, they could be used for any number of things. A lightweight rocket that can reach orbit with a tenth the cost, because they don't need to carry more fuel than exactly what's required to produce thrust. It would be easily possible to relieve crew, get them to safety in the event of an emergency. You could get vessels crossing the solar system with modern technology, without much Tinkertech, at higher speeds. It might be possible to reach the outer solar system in a matter of months, as opposed to years. Even immobile ones that had to be on a surface would be helpful, because it's a lot easier to take off from the Moon than Earth. Your Shadow Gates could give us the stars, Miss Scarlet."

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples. "I've actually considered the use of Shadow Gates for that, but not this soon. I'd have thought this idea would be a bit further down the line."

A smile from the other woman. "With the death of the Simurgh, there's a lot of people willing to push for this kind of project. Certain factions in the House of Commons want to put this through, while optimism is still there to be capitalized upon. If we wait, things will settle until we end up doing business as usual. But if we push through the initiative now, England having a viable space program will _be_ the new normal. I'm just the first in line, actually. I'm fairly certain other nations will be asking for this kind of work in the near future."

I chuckled and nodded in understanding. "Alright." I looked down at the papers and signed. "And...I think I may be able to help you get things started."

* * *

I looked at the active Shadow Gate before me. It was the largest one I'd yet had built, twenty feet across. The thing was going to be heavy, I knew, but it wasn't going to be that bad.

I pressed my fingers to my ear. "Got eyes on me?"

Dragon's warm voice came over the line. _"See and hear you just fine. I'll be tracking you the whole way, we'll see how things go. And I'll step in if there's a problem."_

I grinned. This was going to be _fun._ I took a moment to reshape my armor, make it airtight. I didn't need to breathe, but it would help to have some air to be able to talk. The front of my helmet was replaced by thick, darkened material. It was getting easier and easier to manipulate my blood, make it take on impossible properties. I idly wondered what the limits were. Just how impossible was I?

I was topped up on my strength. Well-fed, not stressed, and my reserves were full. It made the shift into my dragon form easy. It felt odd, to see the courtyard suddenly be so much smaller. Still, being a dragon felt _awesome._ I felt like I could do anything. Break the sound barrier, tame a hurricane, turn the world to my will, challenge eternity itself. I knew that was the rush of power talking, but at the moment, I couldn't bring myself to care.

 _Focus._

I called upon the power of the Void, helping to sharpen my mind. With a moment of experimentation, I grinned to myself as I let the power of the Void flow into my claws, the ends of my claws turning sharper, clear, thrumming with the now-familiar feeling of my magic. The Void Sword was, in a sense, a part of me, an extension of my will. It seemed even in my dragon form, I could still call upon it, manifest it, even though it was somewhat different. Rather than the Void Sword, I had Void Claws. This...had possibilities.

But first, I had a job to do.

I gripped the ring of the Shadow Gate and hefted it into the air. In my demonic form, it would have been heavy, but liftable. In my dragon shape, it was downright easy to lift. As if it had barely any weight at all.

Then, using my ability to fly by will alone, I burst from Castlevania's courtyard and headed straight up for the night sky.

The air thinned rapidly, turning cold, though my thick scales and undead nature had little trouble handling things. Cold wasn't something I worried about. I barely felt it rushing past my snout, especially as the air continued to thin. After a surprisingly short time, the air faded away completely, and the Earth curved below me. The cities of the world glowed on the continents below, looking almost to mirror the stars above and away. The vacuum of space had no discomfort to me, though I wasn't entirely sure how much of that was because of my dragon shape, or how much of it was because of my vampirism. I wasn't going to complain, though. This was _awesome_.

I looked at the gate in my very dragony hands, my maw curling in satisfaction as I saw it was still filled with the blackness of an open Shadow Portal. Orbit? Apparently, that was easy. Easy enough to get to Earth orbit with portals.

I flipped myself around, my eyes searching. I found the Moon easily enough, distant and small. Intellectually, I knew it was a long way off. I remembered a bit of trivia about how it took three days for the Apollo 11 mission to reach the Moon. Three days to cross a light-second of space, just to reach the closest neighbour in space.

A shining light cast over the gate, glowing golden. I turned my head to look.

Dragon's golden suit was hovering there, shining brightly. She gave me a nod, and I returned it, grinning at her with my own toothy maw. With a grace that would make any dancer jealous, she flipped herself around and rocketed soundlessly towards the Moon.

Gripping the Shadow Gate tightly, and a laugh bubbling from within my chest, I flew after Dragon. In seconds, I passed out of the shadow of the Earth, and the light of the Sun hit me.

That...actually hurt a bit. Unfiltered by atmosphere, the light came in strongly, searingly, and my scales certainly didn't appreciate it much. I could withstand it, but it was unpleasant. Still, despite that, I exulted in the feeling of sheer _freedom._ Minutes went by in seeming seconds as I flew through the void of space, accelerating toward the Moon with joy. The golden light of Dragon fluttered ahead, as if daring me to fly faster than I already was.

I grinned as I decided to meet the challenge.

What took Apollo 11 three days, I did in a few minutes, and most of that was in trying to not actually overshoot the Moon. Flying through space was _weird._ I had nothing to push against, save the fabric of space itself. There was no sensation aside from the sunlight that was so busily trying to destroy me, while I just did my best to ignore its presence.

I slowed myself to avoid crashing into the Moon and forming a new big crater, and landed gracefully, setting the Shadow Gate on the lunar surface. With care, I pushed its base into the ground, then ensured it would stay in place with a blast of hellfire, melting the dust around it into glass.

Neat, it worked even without any air. I had suspected, considering it was magic, but it was nice to have confirmation.

Dragon floated over next to me, landing on the surface, stirring up dust everywhere that floated, lazily, in all directions. She tapped the side of her head.

Right, couldn't exactly hear much like this. Taking a brief look at the Shadow Gate planted on the lunar surface, I nodded as I saw the black portal was still stable. Lifting myself from the ground, I moved to the side of a mountain, which cast a long shadow over the valley of the gate. Out of the light of the Sun, I sighed in relief, and shifted back into my demonic shape.

Dragon drifted over to me, her voice coming over the earpiece in my helmet. "Well, looks like the experiment's a success. Mind if I take a gate or two, try and put them further out in the solar system? Putting one on Mars might be helpful, and I can think of a few other places we might want one. It's giving me ideas about portals and bridges for a _lot_ of things."

I chuckled, slowly settling down in the shade. I could feel the cold moonrocks beneath me, while just feet away, the same rocks were quite hot in the sunlight. "Feel free. I'm guessing this means you're going to start on your own projects, hm?"

Dragon's voice was giddy. "Do you have any idea how much energy I could harvest with solar panels orbiting the Sun at Mercury's distance? I could power anything I ever wanted, especially if I could use my own bridges to channel that light. Heck, I could just go and _bathe_ in it if I felt like it!"

I couldn't help but grin. "Light's that's nice for you, huh?"

She nodded quickly. "Oh yeah. I really can't describe it. I can... see and feel the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum. I can stop and watch and listen to a pulsar sing, feel the Sun itself vibrate and dance. I can look out..." Dragon turned and pointed with a mechanical paw. "That way, and see the light from ten billion galaxies reaching me, faint and spread out, but there. I can see the elements in the stars in them, and see them get cast back into the void of space as those stars die. I can sense the glow from the moment of the Big Bang, in every direction, and sense it all. Before I gained the power of Light, I knew all these things, but now it's awash in _sensation_ and _feeling_. It's beautiful."

I smiled as I closed my eyes. I might not be able to feel what Dragon could, through her power, but I could imagine. For a moment, I let my mind wander the universe as a whole, the stars which hosted worlds, and worlds that hosted life. All supported by the absolute blackness, the darkness that spread between the worlds. The near-nothingness between worlds that made it possible to be different worlds. The void was cold, and dark, but not empty. Seething energy flowed in it, swamped by the radiation of stars and the screaming bits of loose matter, thrown carelessly away by trillions upon trillions of suns.

My eyes snapped open. "Holy..." I looked up into the black sky. The stars stood there, innumerable, but seemingly static. But for the first time, I _looked,_ and my power seemed to... open. My consciousness expanded, and for the first time... I felt _aware._

The darkness was there. Always there. Easily pushed aside by the smallest bit of light, but omnipresent, waiting, carving shadows from everything that existed. The Void magic that made up Dracul's sword tapped into that, moreso than the emotions of the vampire god or the souls cast into that void, it wasn't formed from _nothing,_ as I and even Dracul believed. It was formed of something primordial, ancient, the very darkness between the stars themselves.

My power, somehow, tapped into that. It tapped into the fires of the Hells as well, and the strength of the storm, the fury of the emotions of all living beings...but the darkness held _all_ of it, bordering _everything._ Always there, forever patient, always waiting to draw everything into its embrace, and only reluctantly allowing the light to push it aside once more. It was vast and terrible, but not cruel or vicious. It was the part of my soul that was still human that gave the potential for cruelty. Just as any source of power would, to anyone, god or not.

Dragon made a slightly satisfied sound in my ear. "I think you're grasping something about what I see. Or at least your equivalent. Our powers are weird, mirrored. I'm guessing you're feeling something about the darkness?"

I nodded helplessly. "Is it like this for you all the time?"

Dragon laughed. "All the time. I have to try and stay on task when I'm out here. It's easy to get lost in the moment, with all the light coming from around."

We shared a moment of silence, lost in our own respective gifts. Then Dragon spoke again, her voice all business. "We've got a lot to do. You and I need to train together, and we've both been busy. I've been preparing for the next probable Endbringer attack, and I've got a few ideas."

I nodded. "What have you got in mind?"

Dragon settled on the gray lunar dust, humming a little in thought. "The Simurgh only went down when we combined our strengths to break the core. If Behemoth and Leviathan are the same way, then it might help if we can create weapons that do the same thing. We already know it's possible. Alucard's weapon is an example, I can feel a hint of my kind of magic on it. And yet he uses yours on top of it. If we can combine our efforts to make a weapon with both aspects, we might be able to do more together than either of us could apart."

I considered that, then went to rub my chin. Only to bang my fingers against the faceplate of my helmet. Oops. Good thing the vacuum wouldn't kill me if I accidentally broke it, but that would have been awkward.

Dragon chuckled in my ear. "Forget something?"

I just laughed softly. "Forgot the whole spacesuit thing. Anyway, that sounds good. What have you got in mind? A big sword, a bow, a laser gun? Giant shotgun?"

Dragon sounded smug. "I'm thinking something big. Real big. I'm actually already getting to work on the framework for it, but it's taking a lot of resources. Also preparing a few backup plans, in case it fails, but the more hands that can tear at an Endbringer like we did the Simurgh, the better. Fewer points of failure. We'll be high-priority targets for them, if it comes down to it. We need to be on the lookout for the Abomination, too. I'm keeping an eye on our suspects as much as possible. Sleeper hasn't moved, the Blasphemies are still hiding, and Glastig Uaine is currently having tea in the Birdcage."

I nodded as I considered it all. "What about our last two?"

Dragon shrugged. "The Yangban aren't easy to keep track of, and the Abomination being behind them is a long shot theory. They're the only parahuman group running a major power, though. It's possible they're being controlled by the enemy, but not that likely. Scion, though, he's still impossible to track. All we get are sightings of him by word of mouth, and that lags anywhere from five minutes to days. Last report I have of him was fixing a collapsed bridge in France about three hours ago. The real question is, if he's the Abomination, why would he spend nearly thirty years helping people?"

She paused for a moment, her camera-eyes seeming to focus on me. "Speaking of which, you need to take a bit off your own shoulders. Lady of Darkness or not, you need help, even on your own ground. Dracul didn't do everything himself."

I sighed. "So Tattletale told me, too. I've got too much to do, too much relying on me, I can't just..." At the long, steady stare from Dragon, I sighed again in defeat. "You're right. I've got a few meetings, but I'm going to stop scheduling them. I can't micromanage everything. Been run ragged trying to do all this stuff."

Dragon sounded amused. "I can help with that, you know. I might just have one instance of me, but I can run a billion suits. If I actually had that many, that is. I still have to buy raw materials."

I sighed, then couldn't help but chuckle. "You know, if Dracul and Solin could see us getting along like this, they'd both pitch a fit."

Dragon's voice sounded smug. "Good. Oh, by the way? I think I can manage something. Can I see you take your dragon form again?"

I shrugged. "Sure. It'll help in flying back to Earth, anyway." I got to my feet, closing my eyes as I concentrated. Each time I did this, it became a bit easier, though it wasn't precisely _easy._ Still, a moment later, I laid my paws on the lunar soil, looking down at the comparatively smaller form of Dragon, the lack of air being no hindrance to me whatsoever.

Dragon floated off the ground, then circled around me, looking my dark red scales over with curiosity. Then she floated above the lunar surface about fifty feet away from me. While her robotic form was expressionless, I got the feeling she was concentrating on something.

Then she _flared_ with blue and white light. When it faded, I was taken aback for a moment.

Dragon stood there on the lunar surface, thirty feet tall as I was. She had golden scales on the upper half of her body, and the lower half shone silver. She rested on four legs, massive and muscled. Two stubs emerged from her back, and she flexed them, letting out a silent roar in the void of space, four jet-like streams of energy emerging from each of the stubs on her back. She had _jetstreams_ for wings!

Dragon grinned at me, with teeth longer than swords. I returned the grin, lifting myself off the lunar surface with an effort of will. I took a moment to circle around her, like she had me, taking her in from every angle. Dragon was an _actual_ dragon! She looked...as much a dragon of light as I did a dragon of darkness.

I felt inordinately, strangely pleased at that.

I took a moment to concentrate, calling upon my hellfire, concentrating it to wreathe around my arms. The flames burned around me, the lack of air no hindrance to their existence.

Dragon seemed to grin at me, her own forelimbs blazing with her own white flame.

I gestured back at the Earth, hanging large in the sky, bright and beautiful. Dragon looked up, following my gesture, amusement in her slitted green eyes as she nodded.

Wreathed in our own red and white flames, the two of us raced our way back towards the Earth, enjoying the play, revelling in the freedom of the moment. It was playful, competitive only in the sense of sheer _fun_ , and I somehow knew neither of us really cared about who 'won' our race.

For a precious few minutes, I just relaxed and enjoyed the moment, all the worries I had meant nothing. I'd honestly forgotten what it was like to just _play_. I hoped I would get the chance to do so again.

My new sister was _awesome._


	84. Interlude: Preparations part 1

A/N: Geez, this has been a lot of work. Still, we're getting there.

* * *

 _July 9, 2011_

Alucard looked at the slightly-curved blade on the workbench before him. The edge was a shining white, while the interior and back of the sword snaked along with a faintly blue metal. "This is a magnificent piece of work."

Armsmaster's voice was filled with satisfaction. "Your own skills as a blacksmith are impressive. I'm not sure how you managed without the advantages of nanotechnology, actually. I simply had your Crissaegrim analyzed and replicated the metals with what was provided. The links from Paladin's broken chain, the order of metals from Scarlet's castle... the hardest part was the edges, actually. Twist the ring just below the guard clockwise. And _don't_ drop it. It'll go right through the floor."

Alucard lifted an eyebrow as he did so, carefully. Despite the warning, he was nearly taken aback as the sword hummed lowly, a gray haze extending from the edge of the blade. "Fascinating." With care, he turned the ring back around, shutting off the nanothorn edge. "What is the edge made of?"

Armsmaster nodded. "Endbringer crystalline material from as close to the core we could harvest. Which ended up being around twelve times the density of uranium. It seems to be nearly quantum-locked at that point, but it makes it ideal as a basis for a nanothorn system. With that combination, it might just cut an Endbringer core. It took a lot of effort to get it to work with your particular alloy."

Alucard's grin was feral as the blade caught into blue flame, the metal channeling Alucard's particular magic. "It's fantastic. The blend is perfect." He carefully slid the sword into its specialized sheathe, then carefully set its harness to connect to his armor. "Did you name the weapon?"

Armsmaster's lip twitched. "Blade test number seven."

Alucard shook his head. "Does not exactly match the character of the weapon." He rested his hand on the hilt of the blade, thinking for a moment. "Mourneblade. Its name is Mourneblade."

* * *

 _July 10, 2011_

Taylor glared at the Shadow Gate, resting innocently in the Shadow Plane. No matter how many times she tried it, she still couldn't make it open to find two people. Coil or Apostle. Other people, sure. But something about those two? It just failed.

She put her hand on the gate, growling. "Find me one of those two assholes or I'll paint you bright pink. Find me Coil!"

The portal fizzled.

"Damn it!"

* * *

 _July 12, 2011_

Natalie Grant looked around the room she was given with a slight frown.

The problem was not that it was bad. Far from it. It just lacked certain modern comforts that she was used to. No shower. No hot running water. The bed was large and comfortable, and the rooms outside were large and spacious enough to serve as a proper embassy. Apparently, an entire _tower_ on the outer wall was being assigned to be the United States consulate here.

The black-skinned, absurdly attractive woman (who had actual _horns_ growing out of her head, and those wings were _not_ just decorative) gave her a smile. "Ambassador Grant, I hope things are to your satisfaction."

Natalie nodded a little, frowning. "There's a lot to be done. This is a good start, though. There's a long list of things we can do to make things nice and efficient here. It might take a while, though. I've got a list of contractors that can come in and get things up to modern standards. Water and power's our main priority, there. There's just a lot of things we can't do without those."

Meridia nodded with a smile. "I can understand that. There's a bathhouse beneath this tower, actually. We have been remodeling the castle as your technology becomes available. Your world has a number of interesting things. Can I ask you for some recommendations?"

Natalie smiled. "About what, exactly?"

Meridia's smile widened. "I am looking to purchase the device you know as a 'computer.'"

* * *

 _July 14, 2011_

Meridia grinned as she looked around the room. It was nice and comfortable, a large bed resting behind her. But what she was most happy about was her new acquisition. She'd have to thank Natalie. If not for the ambassador's input, she might have done something silly. What she wanted was apparently more complicated than she thought.

The magical device known as a 'computer' by which she could connect to the riches of the 'internet.' She'd even bought a proper desk to place it upon, like it had been suggested to her. Using a proper computer was apparently difficult without the right furniture.

She was certain it would be a bountiful field of desire and imagination to explore. The 'internet' was apparently a kind of archive upon which humans put _everything,_ and best of all, it was _unrestricted._ She was positively _giddy_ at the prospect. If simple pictures of erotica were so easily found with minuscule access, just what bountiful treasures awaited?

She set things up just right, connected the cables as the directions showed. Attached the wires properly. Carefully put the keyboard in proper position.

Then she hit the power button and waited.

 _Starting Windows First-time setup. Estimated time for completion: 3 hours 27 minutes._

Meridia glared at the screen. "When can I get on the internet?!"

* * *

 _July 15, 2011_

The portal fizzled.

Taylor ground her teeth. "Fine. Back to training with Dragon." She shook her finger at the gate. "You're not out of danger yet."

The gate sat there innocently.

* * *

 _July 19, 2011_

Dragon had email.

Not that email was unusual. She had plenty of email. It was the subject line that got her attention. _Two capes requesting asylum, one experienced._ Two more capes wanted to sign up for the Guild, on the condition they could move to Canada. Given the information in the email, there were a number of hurdles there, especially with the prior record of one of them. But it wouldn't be _too_ difficult to arrange, though probation would likely be a possible problem.

PR was always a pain, no matter how necessary it was to keep things going. She sent off a reply with instructions before she returned her mind to the more immediate matter at hand.

The operation to finally take down Heartbreaker.

Before her ascension into the position of the Lady of Light, she would have been stuck piloting a single suit, forced to collaborate with other people to fill in the manpower. That would have made this particular operation rather difficult to pull off, considering the target.

The compound ahead was large. Surrounded by a barbed wire fence, resting on a hill, and each corner had towers by which snipers enjoyed the high ground.

A kilometre down the road, just behind a hill and out of sight of the compound was the near-permanent encampment of the Canadian authorities. Partially it was in a hope to rescue some of the victims of Heartbreaker. Mostly, its presence was born out of the need to keep the man in check, preventing him from creating more victims. It was a standoff that went on for years.

The irony was more people were afraid of Heartbreaker's power than Nikos Vasil had ambition or imagination. He lived like a king of legend, never wanting for anything, and who could have anything he desired. All he had to do was get within speaking range of his target, have a short conversation, and they were his. He could have ruled a nation with that power, easily.

Instead, he made a harem of slaves.

Determination filled Dragon. Not one more.

Dragon activated her radio. "Gentlemen, I suggest you put on your ear protection."

The occupying police quickly did so, putting on shielded ear protection, waiting for the all-clear signal.

Speakers opened on the fifty suits surrounding the compound. A song began to play as the suits began to move in. Lyrics _slightly_ tweaked, and sung by someone who was currently enjoying rather nice accommodations in the Light Plane.

 _It's time to give it up,_

 _It's time to let him down,_

 _So put your guns down and,_

 _Desert him!_

The varied suits, custom-made to handle dangerous S-class threats, had very little trouble tearing through the fence and dealing with mostly-civilian hunting rifles. Gunshots made by the stronger-willed Heartbroken were ignored, their users captured in containment foam.

 _Don't let him make you cry,_

 _Time to say goodbye,_

 _Let me stop his lies and,_

 _Hurt him!_

The repeating song, along with Canary's influence, made it rather easy to contain and neutralize the victims of Heartbreaker. It also helped having a layout of the compound, thanks to Cherie Vasil, and just where Nikos probably was.

In the end, Nikos Vasil was captured easily. He tried making a break for the trees, dressed in nothing but his boxers and a quilt. A containment foam grenade caught him, a bare foot sticking out of the resulting sphere and twitching madly.

Dragon took a picture. This moment had to be immortalized.

 _July 21, 2011_

Alec set down the paper. "Huh. They captured Dad. Killed in an 'escape attempt' afterward."

He thought for a moment. He knew he should be feeling _something_ about it. Happiness that his monster of a father was gone forever. Elation that he'd never get dragged back to that hellhole of a compound. A bit of satisfaction, perhaps.

Finally, he shrugged. "Oh well. Neat."

He turned on the TV. He still had a fair bit of money for the utilities. He could look for work later.

* * *

 _July 22, 2011_

The portal fizzled.

"Fuck! Did you just electrocute me?!"

The bright pink gate just sat there.

* * *

 _July 25, 2011_

The Protectorate was a rather accepting organization. They didn't care if you were a man or a woman, gay or straight, black or white. If you had powers, you were welcome. Even if you had a rap sheet, so long as things weren't too heinous, it was possible for you to sign up.

This was new, however. Legend frowned a little as he looked over the two identical drop-dead gorgeous women standing in front of him. "So, ladies. Why do you want to join the New York Protectorate?"

The one on the left spoke first. "Well, we can contribute to the team. Both of us can sense emotions and influence others to some degree, whether exciting or calming a crowd. We can shapeshift and gather intelligence. We can cast minor illusions, and greater ones if we have time to prepare." She twirled her fingers, a hundred inch-tall miniature green soldiers appearing on the table. With a cry of 'Waaaaagh!' the illusions started to attack each other in a gruesome battle, though thankfully the tiny drops of blood immediately vanished when they hit the wood.

Legend watched with some amusement, especially since the little illusions seemed to be massively enjoying themselves.

The succubus grinned. "You'll not find better entertainers than us. We make for good...therapists, is that the word? And we can fight, when required." Her smile broadened. "We can do a lot to aid you, and we have heard that this city requires more 'capes.' Our Lady gave us leave to join if we wished. We attained our visas, and so here we are."

The one on the right had a matching grin. "And we wished to see if you were as good a man as claimed." She looked Legend up and down, her gaze approving. "So far, so good."

Her twin smacked her on the shoulder. "Irina, you don't _say_ that."

A roll of the eyes. "Trisla, there's no harm in _looking._ Besides, you thought it too."

Legend coughed. "I... appreciate the thought, ladies, but I'm married. Happily so."

Irina tilted her head, a slight pout on her lips. "Lucky woman."

Trisla sighed. "You didn't even bother to read the information package I gave you, did you? First of all, he's married to a man. Everyone knows that. Secondly, we are not permitted to solicit our superiors. It's unprofessional."

Irina frowned a little, considering. "Married to a man?"

Legend nodded, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief.

Irina smiled then, her eyes lighting up in interest. "How does that work? Can we watch?" She grew more excited as another thought clearly occurred to her. "Wait, does that mean I can marry a woman?! I _love this world._ "

Trisla slumped in her chair, making an exasperated sound. "By the Lady's blood, Irina..."

Legend cleared his throat. "No, that's private, and we wouldn't go for it. I _think_ we can find a place for you. If you can remain professional."

 _Preferably in Los Angeles._ He thought. _Becca can probably handle this._

* * *

 _July 26, 2011_

Fizzle.

Thump. Thump. Thump. "Why doesn't this fucking thing _work!?_ "

The pink gate, decorated with Christmas lights, sat there.

* * *

 _July 27, 2011_

Meridia smiled at the little light above the camera. "Well, ladies and gentlemen. I'm hoping you're going to enjoy this." Her grin widened. "Please be gentle, it's my first time." She winked with a giggle.

She felt a lot of satisfaction, plus a _wave_ of lust and desire, as the watchers, requests and donations started filing in to her website. The feelings, and numbers, only increased as she teasingly started the show.

* * *

 _July 28, 2011_

Max Anders sat behind his desk, a half-full glass of brandy on the desk beside him. Absently, he sipped it before he spoke. "I have to ask you to reconsider. We're in a stronger position than ever here. Lung's gang is gone, the Merchants are no threat, while we still stand strong. This is an ideal time for both you and Theo to come back."

Kayden's voice came out of the phone, filled with exasperation. _"_ _And accomplishing what, Max? Just what is this city going to look like underneath the Empire? What kind of place would this be for Aster and Theo?"_

"A safe place, of course." His voice was calm, soothing. Kayden always was sentimental, and if he could just keep talking, she'd come around to his way of thinking. With her apartment destroyed, she didn't have very many places to turn to. "This city's finally about to turn around, and we can only strengthen from here. I can give you and Aster security, Kayden."

" _No, you can't. Your influence didn't keep my apartment from being burned while Othala was over with your offer before. We're done, Max."_

He glowered, allowing some of his irritation slip into his voice. "I think we have a lot to talk about. Nobody's about to trust you on your own out there. Theo just triggered, he'll need help and support to figure out how to leverage his powers. Coming back to us is the best solution for all of you."

" _Sorry Max, it's not happening. For all I know, you had that fire set to limit my options."_

He grit his teeth. "I would never risk your life, or Aster's, or Theo's for this. I'm right, you know I am." He'd never risk Othala's life in that case, either. Her power was too valuable for the Empire. The ability to heal was rare, and with Panacea's death, it made his position even stronger. Still, it annoyed him. Who the hell had set that fire?

" _Well, it's out of your hands now. I'm surprised you haven't heard. Brockton Bay's getting a lot of new capes in the Protectorate. Some of them signing on from Scarlet Dragon's island. You're going to have your hands full if you try and hold onto the city. Thankfully, it's not going to be my problem. I'm leaving."_

Max sprung to his feet. "There's nowhere you can go that'll accept you."

Her voice was smug. _"_ _Actually there is. Theo suggested it. I've got a nice job with Dragon. I might be on probation, but it's better than the shit you're trying to sell me right now. Especially since Aster and Theo are going to be taken care of. I've seen how you treated him, Max. I'm not letting that happen to my daughter."_

Max felt the blood draining from his face.

 _The golden suit, blazing with light, a bright blue beam impaled through the Simurgh and the near-impervious core. The much larger red dragon, as large as a small building, holding the Endbringer still as it added to the assault, breathing a beam of searing-hot unnatural fire._

He spoke slowly. "This isn't over."

The line clicked.

Max slowly slumped back into his chair. He picked up his glass, raised his gaze to look out the window, and drank slowly.


	85. Interlude: Emma

A/N: Busy, busy, busy. It's been a rough journey, getting this far. Thanks for putting up with the wait. Argh!

Here it is, the revised version. Yeesh, this took WAY too long.

* * *

 _January 7, 2011_

"Let me out!" Taylor screamed, the banging echoing faintly in the hall. It was pretty difficult to hear her, actually, considering she'd been pressed face-first into the trash. "Please god let me out it's all over me! They're all over me! Let me out! Oh God _let me out!_ "

Emma laughed. Finally cracking the facade of indifference made it worth the effort. It was so much better when Taylor _reacted._ When she cried, or screamed, or sobbed, or broke down. Emma couldn't keep the grin off her face. "Don't worry Taylor. They'll keep you company for a while. You needed to make new friends anyway."

She shared laughs with Sophia as they walked away, Taylor's screams fading into coughs and hacks, retching echoing out of the confines of the locker. The screams weren't that loud, anyway. The pads and tampons were muffling things nicely.

Sophia's voice was smug. "Damn good idea, Ems. I'll let her out by next period. Maybe. This is just too funny."

Emma nodded, unable to keep the smile off her face. Totally worth the effort.

* * *

"What do you mean she's dead!?"

Sophia's voice hissed at her, the alleyway filled with both snow and frozen garbage. "Hebert's fucking dead. I checked between periods. Nobody let her out, she's a stone cold corpse. I went through her bag, she had a notebook filled with all the shit we pulled on her. Don't worry, I took care of it."

Emma reeled. It was impossible, wasn't it? "She's still there?! We have to get her out! It's only been six hours, she could be..."

Sophia slapped her. "We don't do a goddamn thing! We keep away from that fucking school. I checked, she's a goddamn corpse. Going back there is only going to get us caught and hung by the cops. She's dead, we got to protect ourselves now. We're survivors, Ems. We ain't going to be dragged down by her. She's a weakling. We gotta think about us."

It was nearly impossible to breathe. Emma's mind was in a whirl. It couldn't be, it was just supposed to break through that shell. The facade of indifference that her former friend built up. It was supposed to just get Taylor to _react_. It wasn't supposed to end with...

Sophia stared at her, her voice intense. "They'll find her. Janitors are fuckin' lazy, but with that smell? They'll find her by tonight, maybe tomorrow morning at the latest. Give me your phone."

Emma blinked at the seeming jump in topic. "Wh-what? Why?"

Sophia growled. "Your _phone_ **.** We need to wipe the texts, all of em. The cops might look into it, hell the PRT may look into it. We wipe the data. Everything. Wipe the texts now. You sent me the fuckin' idea for the whole locker shit over the texts, we need to erase it all."

Emma paled at the thought. Quickly, she dug out her phone, opening the texts and seeing her words stare back at her.

 _EB: Hey S! I've got this great idea on how to break through to Taylor! I swear, it'll make her cry!_

 _SH: No shit? MESsing with Hebert's been boring lately. Whatcha got?_

 _SH: Stupidcaps._

 _EB: Know the wastebin in the girl's bathroom? It's filled with used tampons and pads. Why don't we fill her locker with it?_

 _SH: Awww, nasty! Yeah, I can do that. You know me, easy easy._

 _EB: Even better. If she opens it to look, we put her in there. She's skinny, she'll fit. Put the trash where it belongs._

 _SH: Damn girl. Where do you come up with this shit?_

 _EB: It's a gift. We need to get Mads in on this._

 _EB: Not answering._

 _SH: Ah, yeah. She's sick with the flu. Probably playing games. She's not important to this anyway. We got this._

Numbly, Emma handed over the phone. Sophia fiddled with it, quickly wiping the texts away. Erasing everything Emma had done. Emma trusted Sophia with a lot. With everything. With her life.

Maybe it was best to trust her now.

Sophia handed the phone back. "The cops ask anything, don't ask for a lawyer. Only if you get arrested. That'll make em suspicious. Just play innocent airhead. You fuck this up, I'll fuck you up before they ever get close to me."

 _What?_

The ground could have swallowed Emma at that moment and she wouldn't have noticed.

Sophia must have seen something in her eyes. "I fuckin' mean it, Ems. We keep quiet, this shit will blow over. Things will be fine, we forget Hebert like everything else. Nobody cares about her. We just keep quiet, I'll do what I can to make sure there's nothin' left for them to find. We kept erasing those email accounts as we went. Just one more wipe and we're clear. They won't suspect us, and Winslow's a hellhole anyway. All I gotta do is stir up the gangs and they'll do half our work for us." Sophia smiled. The smile of a hungry shark. A smile that had no concern for anyone else. "Trust me, Ems. We got this. You're my friend, I'll cover your back if you cover mine, but if you screw me on this..."

That expression on Sophia's face Emma had always enjoyed before. It meant that Sophia was about to do something. Usually something painful to someone. For the first time in a long time, when Emma looked into Sophia's eyes, she felt fear. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Emma just nodded. There was simply no other response.

Anything else would only provoke Sophia.

* * *

 _January 10, 2011_

The park was empty. In the midst of winter, there weren't too many people out and about, braving the cold if they didn't have to. It made it simple enough to make things clear to the last loose end.

Madison's eyes were filled with fear, her voice rough and weak, not yet fully recovered from the sickness that had sapped her strength. "Oh god, oh god... she's fucking dead!? What the hell did you do!?"

Sophia stood right in front of the cringing, smaller girl. "Yeah, she's dead, Madison. And you're going to keep your damn mouth shut."

Emma stood silent. She could see Sophia's arm twitching, almost instinctively reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. Not that she'd need a weapon to deal with Madison. The other girl was shorter than they were, too small, too weak to manage anything. She'd break her fists on Sophia's face.

Madison cringed away from the taller girl, shaking like a leaf. Emma...couldn't bring herself to help. If she talked, they'd all go down. Let Sophia make the threat. It was just a show, and Madison needed to believe it. Emma _needed_ her to believe it.

Sophia's voice was harsh. "If the cops so much as _breathe_ in my direction, you'll get what Hebert got. And that's after I go through your family. Your mom, your dad, your brothers, your sisters, your fucking cat. I've handled enough that they won't look our way if none of us talk about it. Now all this shit'll go away if you just. Shut. Up."

Madison's lip trembled as she met Sophia's eyes. "We can't just cover this up! This is serious!"

Sophia growled as she pushed Madison off her feet, dumping the smaller girl into a snowdrift. "You say _nothing._ I ain't hanging for you, and I ain't hanging for Hebert. Hebert's dead. Nothing we can do to change that. Now we got to think about ourselves. If you fuck me, I'll fuck you worse and harder. I _won't_ go down because of fucking Hebert. We got one corpse. It's not going to make things any worse if there's four or five more. And even if you're taken in before I get to you, I'll do everything I fucking can to make sure _you hang too._ Don't _fucking push me._ You got that!?"

The petite brunette coughed and spluttered, trying to scramble away from Sophia. She looked at Emma, seeking some help, some assistance from anywhere.

Emma kept her face impassive, unhelpful, uncaring. It was the only way. Though that was hard to convince herself of, with her heart pounding a mile a minute.

Finally, weakly, Madison spoke, her voice coming out in a racking cough. "G-got it."

Sophia's grin was feral. "Good. Glad we could make things clear. I'll be keeping an eye on you, Mads. Make sure you tread lightly."

Together, Sophia and Emma walked away, Madison's sobs echoing behind them.

Sophia's voice was filled with satisfaction as they walked out of earshot. "See, what I tell ya? Spin a story, and she'll fold."

Emma faintly nodded. It was the only thing she could do. She knew that tone that Sophia had used.

Sophia hadn't been bluffing. If she was caught, if she had the chance, she'd make sure she did as much damage as she could. They'd just be more bodies left in the wake, if Sophia thought it had to be done. She'd do it to cover up the death of Taylor, just as she'd do what she had to to cover up the death of that gangbanger.

Four or five more corpses. Just add them to the pile. Emma wouldn't say a word. She couldn't. It wasn't worth the risk. She just had to hope that her father's grumbling about moving the hell out of Brockton Bay would come to fruition.

And she wouldn't say a word. Sophia wasn't the only one who'd hang.

* * *

 _January 23, 2011_

The snow drifted down on Taylor's grave. Emma couldn't help but stare at the simple slab of stone, marking the place where her body lay. Mister Hebert stood there, before his daughter's grave like a living statue. He moved, he breathed, but he didn't react to her or her father's presence. He hadn't done anything but stare at the coffin, snowflakes slowly falling into the open grave.

She barely heard her father's words as he tried to comfort his friend, sincere, unknowing condolences.

Not knowing his daughter was a murderer.

"I'm so sorry, Mister Hebert. I'm sorry she's gone." Her words came out, thick with emotion. Self-loathing. Guilt. Grief. All for one simple little thought.

She could barely hear his reply, filled with grief and pain. "Thank you, Emma. You're..." He visibly struggled to speak, his entire body beginning to shake. "You're a good kid."

That hard-won sentence hit Emma like a bullet. She could barely listen as she heard her father talking about their plans to leave Brockton Bay. She felt so _horrible_ about this. So afraid. So _fake._ So...so...

Weak.

 _I'm not good. I'm very much not good at all. I'm not good, I'm not_ _ **strong.**_ _I'm..._

Sophia's voice rang in her ears. Words she _used_ to take comfort in.

" _You ain't weak, are ya? A weakling would have gone along with those damn thugs. A weakling would have let them cut them up, just for the chance to breathe another minute. You fought."_

Maybe leaving would be for the best. She reinvented herself once before. She could do it again. She could do it without Sophia. It would be hard, but there wasn't any other choice.

She could do it. She could fight. She would fight.

Even if the enemy was her own feelings.

* * *

 _January 29, 2011_

Emma shivered in the cold, watching the ice break against the shores of Brockton Bay's harbor.

She looked down at the object in her hands. Taylor's flute, covered in shit and rendered unusable, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. Sophia had done exactly what Emma told her to do. Sophia stole it, probably would have simply kept it as a little trophy of what they were doing. Or maybe just threw it out. She wouldn't have had any care with someone else's property. It wouldn't have occurred to Sophia to damage it, to torment Taylor with it.

Sophia had destroyed it, but it was Emma who told her to. She had wanted to prove to herself that she left her old, weak self behind. To say goodbye to that friendship from childhood.

Emma opened the bag, peeling away the packing tape that had kept it sealed. The stench hit her, sealed inside for months. The foulness had long since dried, but that didn't help much. Emma was grateful for the gloves, protecting her hands from the disgusting mess that remained.

Thoughts whirled through her head. This was the last thing she had of Taylor. The last thing she had remaining of her former friend, her victim. The last thing that tied her to...what she'd done.

The police had investigated Winslow, but it was a slow, unenthusiastic investigation. They seemed almost lethargic, doing the bare minimum, and they hadn't looked the Trio's way. Instead, they were using the whole incident as an excuse to crack down on the gang recruitment, with a cop assigned to the school for at least six months. Either the angels were on their side or Sophia managed to pull off a miracle. Even Blackwell wasn't talking about it, citing the fact that Winslow was a hotbed of gang activity. It hadn't saved her job, but it had, it seemed, managed to ensure things quieted down.

Emma suspected Sophia was partially responsible for that, though how was beyond Emma. A few days of investigation, and then the cops just suddenly lost interest. It was Brockton Bay, there was always something new happening, something worse. But it all just...went away.

The fear remained, of course. But it slipped away, little by little, each day she still walked free. Tomorrow, Emma would be moving to New York City. Tomorrow, she could leave all this behind. Hopefully, she could say goodbye to all this. To hopefully stop being afraid, someday.

With her other hand, she pulled out her phone. She looked between them, the flute, and the phone. With a single call, a press of the button, she could call the police. Tell them everything. Tell them about Shadow Stalker, tell them about what they'd done. How they shut a girl in her locker until she died there. Maybe then she would feel a little better. Even if Sophia actually wanted to go through on her threat, she could probably get protection. Daddy, Mom, Zoe would be okay, the heroes could figure something out.

But then she'd lose, too. She'd have nothing left to look forward to. No modeling career. Hell, she'd be lucky if she could get any kind of work at all. They don't give good jobs to girls who killed their childhood friends, do they? How would her suffering help Taylor now?

The best thing to do was to forget it. Forget everything, make a new Emma for a new city. That was the only solution. Suffering in the future wouldn't make up for the mistakes of the past.

She pulled her hand back and threw the flute into the bay. From here, it wouldn't go that far out, but the water was deep enough. It wouldn't likely be found, and even if it was, it probably wouldn't be recognized. The bay had enough trash in it from the rusting metal hulks of the ships.

"Goodbye Taylor. I'm sorry."

* * *

 _February 7, 2011_

The New York apartment was small, and cold at first. Hastily-bought space heaters and blankets placed on the doors helped keep the heat in. She hadn't quite realized how much _colder_ New York City could be over Brockton Bay. It wasn't that far away, but the difference was bone-chilling.

Still, as warm as her room was, Emma always woke up with a chill.

Every damn night, she had horrible dreams. Dreams, nightmares, about that day. If she was lucky. Sometimes it was worse.

Sometimes, she just dreamed of Taylor, staring accusingly at her, covered in blood. That, beyond half-formed nightmares and the feelings of crushing guilt, was the worst.

She took her time getting cleaned up for the morning. Feeling leaden as she looked at herself in the mirror, brushing her teeth. She didn't quite _like_ what looked back, but...

Maybe school would be better. Maybe she wouldn't feel so _terrified_ if she was able to spend some time with other people. Holing up in her room wasn't making her feel any better.

* * *

Glensdale High School was a pretty big campus. It used to be an elementary school, but after Behemoth hit the city and it was reconstructed, there was room enough for the campus to grow. It was somewhat of a necessity, as the ground nearby would no longer support a tall building, so allowing the government to purchase the land for longer, shorter school buildings and a larger property. There were issues about it, notably some of the classrooms were small, but it worked out.

Emma had some trouble finding her way around at first. The cafeteria was huge, and it took a while for her to figure out how to order her food properly. She felt dejected as she sat down, alone.

She ate her sandwich slowly, not really tasting it as the fast bustle of students around her came and went. A flash of brown hair from the corner of her eye nearly made her heart stop, and she reflexively looked.

A pretty sophomore, wearing an all-black getup. Leather jacket and pants. This girl looked _tough,_ like she gave no shits about anything, and she was busily laughing away at some joke a tall, dark, and handsome guy had just told her. On the other side of the guy was a redhead girl, wearing a thick winter coat and a pink, fuzzy sweater underneath.

Heart beginning to calm, Emma turned back to her lunch, her fingers shaking. _Taylor's gone. She's gone and she's not coming back. Get a grip, Emma! You can survive this!_

"Hey, you new here?" A cheerful voice broke into her thoughts.

Emma jerked in her seat, whirling around to the speaker. It was that same girl, looking at her with concern.

Emma faintly nodded. "Y-yeah. Just new here. First day."

The other girl grinned, flicking her hair back as it fell over her eyes. "Yeah, I can hear that. Ain't always easy to get settled in somewhere new." She held out her hand. "Name's Faith. If you want, I can show you the ropes around here."

" _Hi!" An enthusiastic voice spoke, its owner wearing bottle-thick glasses. She waved at the fellow six year old. "I'm Taylor!"_

 _Emma smiled as she waved back happily. "I'm Emma! Daddy says he's friends with your dad. Maybe we can be friends too?"_

" _Play nice together girls." The tall brunette lady said, a smile on her face. "We've got to get the barbecue ready."_

Emma swallowed, then nodded, shaking the offered hand. "Emma. Good to meet you. I'd appreciate that."

Faith nodded with a smile. "You okay? You look like you're a million miles off." Her voice was filled with genuine concern.

Emma's voice was a bit faint, even to her own ears. "Just some old memories." At Faith's curious look, Emma quietly finished. "Just not used to being friendless and alone."

Faith grinned. "Well, we can fix that." The tall brunette, waved at her friends. The pair came over, wearing friendly smiles.

The redheaded girl smiled and waved shyly. "Hey."

The handsome guy stuck out his hand. "Nick. Good to see ya." He gently nudged the other redhead's shoulder. "Don't mind my best friend here. She's just a bit nervous around new people. And people she knows. And dogs. And cats. And..."

With an amused, but weak, smile, Emma shook the offered hand. "I get the idea. I'm Emma."

The other girl waved shyly. "Alyson. Hi. That's me. Um...hi?"

Faith laughed softly. "You said that three times already, Als."

It felt like a weight had lifted off of Emma's shoulders, and her smile grew.

* * *

 _February 10, 2011_

Faith, it turned out, liked to box.

There was a local gym, with the rather catchy name of 'Rocking Irons' about a block away from the school, and Faith was only too happy to show her. It would probably be nice to get a new hobby. And what better place to become strong than a gym?

Emma sat back on a bench and watched as the other girl smacked away at the punching bag, clearly enjoying herself as she trained.

Faith's voice was confident as she hammered at the bag, making it swing back and forth. "So, the whole thing is, New York's a bit rough and tumble. Since Behemoth came through, city's gone through hell. It's helpful to know a few things about defending yourself. Most people don't bug ya, but there's always an asshole or two who you might need to knock around. Better to know and be prepared."

Emma nodded. "So you can prove your strength against all comers. Show them you're the predator they don't want to fuck with. The lone wolf."

Faith stopped for a moment, looking at Emma, her face unreadable for a moment. She went back to hitting the bag. "Not about provin' nothing, girlie. Always going to be a bigger fish in the pond, you know? It don't matter how strong you are, someone's gonna have an advantage over you. Not sayin' you shouldn't be prepared. Just that you be _smart._ Make a fight your last resort, not your first, cause the guy who picks a fight, makes trouble, fucks over the other guys around? He's doin' it because he needs to prove somethin' and it's pathetic, but he thinks he's got an advantage, and once it comes to a fight, _nobody_ wins. Weak people pick fights to prove they ain't weak. Strong people, _really_ strong people, don't need to pick fights. They're secure. They don't gotta prove shit. It's the difference between the poseur wanna-be capes on the net who don't actually have any powers, and the actual veteran capes. The real deal don't give a shit. They're all outta fucks to give about the little shit."

Faith hit the bag especially hard. "Let's get somethin' straight. You strut around, pickin' fights, makin' shit for people? You ain't strong. You're an idiot, and sooner or later you bite someone who'll bite back and bite harder. You look around Glensdale, you see the guys hangin' in a gang? They ain't strong. They know it, which is why they're in a gang. It just makes em feel strong, lets them feel like they've broken their shortcomings when they're still little pathetic idiots. If they were strong, they wouldn't need their buddies there to get up to shit. You usually don't find one white dude pickin' on the gals from the Bronx. You gotta get at least three of em. Critical mass of bigotry and stupidity."

Emma blinked as she considered that, uncomfortable with how closely Faith was unintentionally digging into Emma's past. Emma took a breath, trying to see the other girl's point of view. "So if they're weak, who's strong?"

Faith snorted. "You're askin' the wrong question. Strong compared to who? You might have the strongest cat around on the street, but he's nothin' compared to a rottweiler. Lemme tell you, _really_ strong people don't give a shit about comparison. They just get shit done. They don't waste time and energy posing, flexing, and proving themselves if they don't have to. I mean, shit, you think Legend spends any extra time posing and taunting badguys? No, he just comes in, gets the job done, hauls the assholes away and calls it a day. I'll bet he doesn't give a second thought to the guys he's stopped, he's got better things to worry about." Faith grinned crookedly. "Too bad the dude's gay. Ruined my first crush. Ah well." She shrugged as she went back to hitting the punching bag. "You ever watch a reality show? Like, say, _Last One Standing?_ "

Emma shook her head. "Been a little busy for all that." _Too busy trying to figure out a new way to torment...god, I still think about it. There's so much I never did because I was too busy thinking of things to do to Taylor. So many things I could have been doing otherwise, and I was just so busy trying to be_ _ **strong.**_ _I could have been doing_ _ **anything**_ _with that time. I could have..._

Faith nodded, seemingly ignorant about Emma's inner thoughts. "You got the eight people on the show, jonesin' for the million dollar prize. You can divide them up into the strong contenders, the ones who're good at the tasks, and the weaker ones, who're good at politics. If they suck at both, they get kicked off fast. But the weaker ones know they don't bring as much to the table as the competent, secure ones. They can't fish or hunt, or build a shelter, or win any other challenge, so they wheedle and backstab their way to a more secure position, and vote off their stronger rivals. Hell, sometimes they even win the grand prize. Difference is, when someone strong wins it, someone who actually pulled their weight, most people don't mind it, they cheer that guy on. When the backstabbers win it, nobody likes em. Fuck, they nearly lost the rights to the show when one sneaky bitch won on season three. Usually though, they end up losin', cause they can't cope with somethin' they can't wheedle out of."

Faith hit the bag hard, making it swing back and forth on its chain. "They just break."

* * *

 _March 5, 2011_

Winter hadn't yet really broken from New York. The snow was going away as the days grew longer and warmer, but the transition from winter to spring was a slow one. The wind coming off the Atlantic brought with it the smell of salt, along with the less pleasant smells that came from the garbage that filled the water. Rebuilt or not, New York wasn't the most clean city around. Though apparently it had been worse, once. The city benefited from quite a few civil programs. It was important, not just as a symbol of American pride, but as a city that the Herokiller had attacked, and survived.

Emma sat, watching the water lap at the shore. A small little grassy patch by the water, letting her look out over the ocean without too much of an issue. She went there to think, because it was one of the few places where she could enjoy the ocean air with a small amount of solitude. Just another girl who wanted to enjoy the day, as much as she could.

 _Phone in one hand, flute in the other._

Since she found this spot in New York, she came as often as she could. Once every two or three days, considering her schedule. Every time, she held her phone in her hands, considering that choice. To preserve her life over that of Taylor's, even as a memory. It wasn't like turning herself in would have helped anything, would it?

It wouldn't bring her back. It wouldn't fix Emma's mistake. It wouldn't...it got a little easier every day to accept it, and move on.

Still, her phone felt like it weighed a million pounds.

"Sorry." She said softly. "I'm so sorry. I can't help you now. I can't fix it now. It wouldn't solve anything."

The wind whistled. Almost accusatory. She put her phone away. After all, she had to go see a movie with Faith, and Nick, and Alyson. She had a new life, now.

It was best to put the old one behind her.

* * *

 _April 8, 2011_

Emma's room was bustling with activity, as Faith and Nick had come over. For the first time in a long time... Emma felt happy.

"So I was sayin' 'you just need to get up on that high horse and try again!'" Faith said with an exaggerated wave, grinning crookedly.

"Oh god, Faith, please don't." Nick begged, his voice desperate.

Faith grinned, her voice teasing. "So Nick here jumps right back on the horse. Gets his feet right into the stirrups. He seems just fine, all ready to go...then a strap breaks and the whole saddle tilts right over. Wham! Right in the mud!"

Emma struggled to keep in her laughter, and failed miserably. Her laughter filled the room, added to by the giggling Faith.

Nick just sighed, shaking his head. "Give me a break. It _was_ my first time trying to ride a horse. They're not exactly common around the city, you know. Now and again, _maybe_ I see a cop on a horse. Going upstate for that was new!"

Faith nodded with a grin. "Sure. But you should have seen the look on your face as you struggled to get outta the mud. You looked like you were ready to choke out Behemoth with your bare hands."

He sighed, taking a drink from his bottle of Coke. "Well, it's not like I enjoyed the experience."

Faith's grin grew wider. "Yeah, well, just be glad Comet didn't take a step back and hit your junk. I'm kinda fond of your junk."

" _Faith!"_ Emma exclaimed, forced into another round of laughter.

She gave an unrepentant grin. "What? He's my boytoy."

Nick just slumped on the couch, putting his face in his hands. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" He spoke, though his words were muffled.

Emma struggled to breathe, trying to rein herself in. Finally, she managed to calm herself down enough. She just...couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy. She had friends. A new life. A life without Sophia, but one where she felt.. content. It was a good feeling.

She quieted as she heard a commotion at the front door, her father's voice echoing slightly through the walls, though she couldn't hear what was being said.

Then the door opened, a severe-looking man standing there, wearing a black trenchcoat. He was flanked by two New York police.

 _Oh god._

The man held up a laminated ID, with a grim-looking photo of him on it. "Emma Barnes? I am Agent MacGregor of the FBI. I have a warrant for your arrest, and these gentlemen are here to confiscate your belongings for evidence." He looked at the other two teenagers in the room. "I'm afraid due to the situation, I'm going to have to ask you two to come with us for questioning."

Faith got to her feet, her face pale. She whirled on Emma. "Ems, what the hell is he talking about?"

Nick rose his hand, clearly nervous. "Uh... can we get some context, here?"

MacGregor frowned. "She's wanted for the murder of a classmate at her old school."

Faith had gone pale, looking at Emma with disbelief. "Ems? It ain't true, is it? Tell me it ain't true."

Emma didn't say anything. She couldn't. Her throat felt like it was filled with a stone. As the police clicked the handcuffs shut over her wrists, it took almost all of her composure to not just collapse on the floor, wailing hysterically.

She couldn't, however, keep herself from sobbing.

* * *

 _April 18, 2011_

Back in Brockton Bay. Not that Emma was allowed to actually see the sights, revisit the places she grew up. Not allowed to visit the Boardwalk and shop. Not allowed to walk around on Captain's Hill and enjoy the history. Not allowed to watch the sun rise over the city. She and her father were considered flight risks. No bail, no house arrest. No chance to get some fresh air. No chance for _anything_ she wanted. All she was allowed to see was the conference room with her lawyer, and her cell. It was in the former she sat at the moment, her heart in her throat.

Alan gently squeezed Emma's hand, and she smiled faintly. Her father was the only steady thing in her life, now. It wasn't as if she had much better to look forward to. Who else would be friends with a murderer?

"Things will be okay, Emma." He spoke quietly. "We'll get through this. I'll fight as hard as I have to. You'll get your day in court."

She nodded, plastering a look of gratitude on her face. She felt hollow, trapped, stuck playing a role that dug deeper and deeper into a pit with no way out. Every time she tried to muster up the courage to tell her father the truth, the words died on her tongue. She could imagine the look in his eyes, the crushed expression of betrayal. The same look she used to enjoy seeing in Taylor's.

She couldn't bear seeing it in her father's eyes.

The door swung open, and Jonas Crick, the best lawyer her father could buy, looked at her severely. He was an older man, balding and grizzled. His voice was quiet as he spoke. "Well. This is a mess." With a sigh, he took a seat at the table, across from the pair. He set down the file folder in this hands and opened it.

"I understand this is a trying time for you both." He looked to Emma. "You've been accused of a long list of charges, young lady. Evidence is coming in as they investigate. I'll be blunt. Things are very, very bad on your end, and as the police and PRT analyse the evidence, more charges are likely to show up. At the moment, though, so far you're looking at thirty years, perhaps more, depending on what they can get to stick."

Her father swallowed. "What do they have right now?"

Jonas took a moment to rub his eyes, careful not to dislodge his glasses. "Frankly? A lot. The evidence linking the death of Taylor Hebert was uncovered by a newly-triggered parahuman. At the moment, their identity is classified, but they're not charging either of you just on their word. They're putting forth charges based on the evidence found by their testimony. The case was reopened and is being investigated by both the BBPD and the PRT, due to both the new parahuman's involvement and Madison Clements' confession and testimony about what happened. Here's what we know as what follows. Sophia Hess, also known as Shadow Stalker, is in custody, and she has claimed under interrogation that you, she and Madison conspired to kill Taylor."

Emma's breath caught, and she felt the blood drain from her face. "S-she's lying! We didn't!"

Jonas sighed. "We're fairly sure she _is_ lying. Apparently Armsmaster has a lie detector with fairly good accuracy. Issue is, such devices and their results aren't reproducible, and they don't count as evidence in any court of law. That prevents people from being arrested and convicted just on a Tinker's say-so. They can, however, be used to help discover admissible evidence. At the moment, Madison's role in this is being worked through, but due to her confession and her repentant attitude, she's likely to get a reduced sentence. That may change if it's found she lied to the authorities, but that's how things stand as they are at the moment. Right now, the PRT is examining Sophia's phone, her laptop, as well as yours and Madison's. They've also exhumed Taylor's grave, verifying the identity of the victim, as well as reconstructed much of the events that led to her death."

Emma swallowed. "It was Sophia who did it. She pushed Taylor into the locker. She put the pads and tampons in there. I had no idea." _If she hadn't done it, Taylor would still be alive. She was the hero, she should have known better than me what someone can go through before...before..._

Jonas, thankfully, seemed to be ignorant of Emma's train of thought. His voice was quiet as he spoke. "I believe you. Things still don't look good, however. What's known at this point is enough for them to charge you with second-degree murder. They don't believe you intended to kill her, but with the long-running bullying campaign, the retrieved emails sent to the victim, the state of Taylor's body when she was discovered... it's turned a lot of opinion against you. Our best option is to request a judge to arbitrate for sentencing, even with a plea deal, rather than going to trial."

Alan frowned, his voice filled with a combination of anger and worry. "Not fighting this out? My daughter is innocent. There's no way she could do this to Taylor, they were _friends_ for years!"

" _The point is that you're a loser."_

 _The words seemed to hit Taylor as surely as any physical blow, unable to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. "...Even if it's just a flute and a memory, maybe I wanted to feel like I had some backup here. I thought you were better than that, screwing with me on that level."_

" _I guess you're wrong." Emma said, feeling...reassured, as she spoke the words that burned her old friendship away irrevocably. She didn't enjoy the moment, precisely... but as she cemented her path, things made_ _ **sense.**_ _"Doesn't look like she's offering you any backup at all."_

The memory made Emma feel sick. But she was still helpless. Trapped. She had to escape. She had to get _free_ of here. Even her father couldn't help. He wouldn't help if he knew the truth. Nobody would. Who possibly could? It wouldn't help Taylor now...

Emma's voice was quiet as she spoke, her heart feeling like lead. "I... I broke off my friendship with Taylor because of Sophia. I followed her, she was a _hero,_ she saved our lives... I didn't know that she was crazy. I didn't know that she'd do these things. I just... all I did was tease Taylor, I swear. I didn't hurt her. I didn't kill her. Sophia did. After Taylor was dead... she threatened me, she threatened Madison. She threatened our _families._ I kept quiet because of that."

Alan looked unhappy at that, his face turning angry as he looked at her. "What the hell happened, Emma?"

That expression seemed to sear into her very soul, and Emma could only duck her head. "I'm sorry. I'm not proud of the things I did. But I didn't kill Taylor. I didn't want her dead. I was just... I'm not sure what I was doing. I was just so scared. I... I'm sorry. I couldn't say anything about... what was happening."

Emma told everything about Sophia, about how they met. Sophia's philosophy, how it drove Emma to reject Taylor in order to be closer to the then-independent hero. She downplayed everything she did, every idea for the torment she inflicted on Taylor. It was stretching the truth, but what else could she do? They'd believe it, and there wasn't anything left to show that it wasn't true. Sophia had deleted her texts, and Emma had cleared out the emails sent from her computer. It came down to her word against Sophia's, and she simply had more to work with.

After she'd finished, Jonas sat there, thinking. Then he scowled. "Capes make everything much more complicated than they need to be. This case is just the worst instance I've had. Then there's the damned bureaucracy _,_ it's like trying to squeeze water out of a stone _while_ hiking up Everest without any equipment." He sighed, looking tired. "I won't lie. This is going to take a while, even if we simply arbitrate rather than fight it out in court. And it takes time to go through the evidence, sort through files, tally up reports... this is going to take months, at least. Right now, the prosecution considers you both flight risks."

Alan spoke, his voice hard. "We aren't runners. We fight."

Jonas shot him a look. "Mister Barnes, _please._ This is important. At the moment, I'm not cleared for all the classified information that the prosecution is bringing. I'm working on that. But when I brought up the possibility of bail for the both of you, I was shut down. Until the things are cleared, I won't even be allowed to set you two in a nice little motel room. They think there's a chance the both of you will cut and run. That, legally, is all they need."

Alan took a deep breath, then nodded slowly. "There's got to be avenues we haven't tried yet. I can't accept that we're denied even the possibility without explanation."

Jonas frowned, looking frustrated. "I'm not sure what else I can try."

Emma's voice was weak, faint as she spoke. "What if I agreed to stay? I mean, they're throwing the worst of things at me, right?" She looked at her father, feeling her lip tremble. "I'm the one they want. Just...let my dad go. I don't really care anymore. He didn't do anything."

Jonas looked at Emma for a long moment. Then he spoke softly. "I'll bring it up in the next meeting with the judge. In the meantime... think on what you want to do. Fight it out, plead guilty, or arbitrate and argue through the charges. We still have time while they tally the evidence up, and we need to do everything we can to refute what they have. Things are going to get worse before they get better. Regardless, I need to get through the paperwork. We need to compile everything we can before we can decide whether to go to trial or not."

Alan frowned, anger in his voice. "Wait, we might not even get to trial?"

Jonas glared at him. "Yes, that may very well be the best course of action. This isn't a television drama, Mister Barnes. Frankly, getting to trial is actually the worst-case scenario here. Dramatics and tricks _may_ work in a courtroom. They don't work in an arbitration case, and the legal system as a whole does not like people trying to pull dramatic tricks to make their case. The more evidence we can shoot down before it reaches the point before we even think about going to trial, the better. As much as I may grumble about the speed of the bureaucracy, in this instance, we want it to take as much time as possible."

Alan nodded. "And if we do go to trial?"

A sigh from Jonas. "Then my suggestion for you is to go with a judge presiding, instead of judgement by jury. First of all, our best defense would be in airing as much classified information as we have. A jury trial won't go over very well, especially not here in Brockton Bay. If even one member of the jury has Empire leanings, they'll use that information to hunt down Miss Hess' family. As it is they're going to be taken into Witness Protection, but the fewer people who have to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, the better. We're more likely to get some leniency, as well. Judges are more likely to get angry at the parahuman who's working the system than an ordinary girl." His lips tightened. "It could go bad, though. Trials are messy things, and avoiding it would be best. Still, I'll arbitrate with the judge and prosecution for as long as I need to. Depending on what they find, a plea may end up with a fairly short sentence. Minors don't tend to get charged for long sentences... but this is not a usual case. It's a serious list of charges, and I'm not sure how the judge will take things."

Emma nodded, feeling hollow. "I know. But I'm not spending more years behind bars for what Sophia did. She threatened my family, it's the only reason I kept quiet. I'm not going to suffer for her. I'll accept a few charges, but I am going to fight the big ones. I... I treated Taylor badly when we drifted apart, but I never wanted her dead."

Alan gently squeezed her hand.

The warmth of his skin on hers should have been reassuring. Instead, it felt leaden.

Two days later, Alan was allowed to stay with Zoe under house arrest.

* * *

 _May 1, 2011_

"Barnes? You've got a visitor."

Emma looked up. A visitor?

Her mind was in a whirl as she was brought over to the visiting booths. A pane of reinforced glass separated her from the other side of the room, and Emma gingerly took a seat on the stool that was bolted to the ground.

The door swung open, and Faith strode in. Emma's mouth dried at the sight of her. Of all the people, she hadn't expected her.

The other girl's face was expressionless as she sat down, picking up the phone on the side of the booth.

Emma blinked, then flushed a bit as she picked up her own. She hadn't noticed it.

"Hey," Faith spoke, sounding tired. "Figured I should come around. Took a while to get the bus fare, though." A twitch on Faith's lips. "How you holding up?"

Emma swallowed. "Okay, I guess. I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic."

A moment of silence passed. Emma shifted uncomfortably as she realized what she'd just said.

Faith dipped her head forward a little, her fingers tight around the phone. "So you really killed a girl, huh?"

Emma shut her eyes. It was better than seeing the other girl's eyes. Slowly, Emma nodded, her voice thick as she spoke. "It was stupid. A prank gone bad. I just... I don't know what I was thinking. It all seemed to make sense at the time."

Faith's chuckled slightly. "Lot of bad ideas sound like good ones at the time." She sighed. "Obviously, you never thought it through."

Emma nodded slowly, opening her eyes. "Yeah. I just... I've got no idea what to do."

Faith shrugged. "That's the bitch about prison. You don't have very many options." She gently tapped the glass. "You still have choices to make, though."

Emma furrowed her brow, shaking her head. "Like what? I can't do much from inside a cell."

Faith shook her head. "Yeah, you don't have many options. But you can still choose what kind of person you want to be. You killed a girl. It might have been dumb, you might not have meant it. But you did it. Accept it. Learn from it. Take your lumps, and while it's not going to be fun, own up to what you did."

Emma's lip trembled. "But I did."

Faith lifted an eyebrow. "Did you? Then why did the feds pull you out of your place, instead of you heading down to the cops to confess? Did you even try to give any closure to that girl's family? Or did you just run from what you did?"

The words struck like a physical blow.

 _Madison confessed. She was still in the city with Sophia, right there, and she stepped forward. What did I do? I just tried to forget it. I never tried. I was... I was too afraid because of what would happen to me. I never thought about what I was doing to Taylor._

Faith nodded slowly, looking satisfied. "Yeah, you got my point. Running don't fix any problems. Not like this. You fucked up. It can be hard as fuck facing that. Point is, even if you can't fix what you did, you owe it to that girl, and you owe it to yourself. Even if you spend the rest of your life being a jailbird, you still get to pick what kind of person you are. You can run, until everything drips away. Or you can confront what you did."

Emma nodded slowly. "You mean fight."

Faith laughed softly. "Yeah. Just you gotta fight your own dumbass self. Own up. Can't fix it, maybe, but if you try, maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to look at yourself in the mirror." She shrugged. "Or maybe you're a shameless bitch. Maybe you don't give a shit about who you are. Maybe the girl I got to know over the last couple months was a complete lie." She tapped the glass again. "You figure that out."

Faith hung up the phone. Emma could only sit there, until she was brought back to her cell.

* * *

 _May 4, 2011_

The three pages in front of Emma seemed to be so small, so frail, so insignificant.

She looked up at Jonas, her voice soft. "Fifteen years? That's..."

He folded his hands, looking angry. "That is the best I can do. I can't get anything less than that. And it's all because you _lied_ to me and your father."

Emma swallowed. "W-what?"

His gaze was serious as he looked straight at her. "As a courtesy, I didn't tell your father about this just yet. He hired me to be your representative, and it is in that capacity I'm acting. I can't bargain any less than fifteen years because of evidence they found on your cell phone and your computer."

Emma's stomach dropped into the floor. Her mouth gaped as she tried to form words, and couldn't.

Jonas scowled, leaning forward slightly. "I'm quite aware that you're a teenager. You probably don't know the first thing about computers and data storage beyond the fact they let you do things. Data that gets deleted? It's not actually gone until the hard drive fills it. It isn't gone until it's overwritten. With the right Tinker, it's not even gone then. They recovered the details about your little text conversation with Sophia. They recovered every email you sent to Taylor, every taunt, every time you encouraged her to kill herself. Christ, kid, if you weren't a minor, the judge would have insisted on thirty years for this. It's _only_ the fact you're a minor that I was able to bargain down to fifteen in a minimum security prison. Had you been three years older, there would have been nothing I could do. They'd have hit you with thirty years with all the charges."

It took a long moment for Emma to speak, her voice faint and weak. "What can I do?"

He looked at her seriously. "You take the punishment. Officially you won't be sentenced until we manage to straighten things out for your father. He's pleading ignorance about your actions, and the more we keep things separate, the better." With a tired sigh, he shook his head. "For what it's worth, kid? There's nothing more I can do for you. I suggest you talk to your father, come clean, before I have to."

Slowly, Emma's gaze dropped to the pages in front of her.

Leadenly, she picked up the pen.

* * *

Alan stared at her.

Emma swallowed as she ducked her head, unable to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry."

It took long minutes, but finally, he managed to say something. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Emma."

She shuddered, the tone of his voice striking her to the core.

What hurt most was the look in his eyes. The disappointment. The pain. He'd lost his illusion of his good little girl. He looked uncertain, like the world made no sense anymore.

Emma ducked her head, unable to meet her father's eyes any longer. She barely noticed as he left.

* * *

 _May 17, 2011_

Emma stared at the screen.

It was impossible. Simply impossible. The Simurgh was _dead._

For Emma's entire life, the Endbringers had been. They always attacked, always fought, always seemed unstoppable. And now, one of them was dead. Gone.

Even she, locked in her cell, had been allowed to watch the final ten minutes of the Simurgh's life, as the capes in Vancouver fought her. But it was two who killed her. One wasn't that much of a surprise, after all, it was Dragon, the world's most famous Tinker, and she probably had built some kind of system or gadget that finally managed the seemingly impossible.

It was the other that made Emma feel cold. Scarlet Knight, who turned into a massive red dragon. Twice as tall as the Simurgh, far more massive, dark, violent, and seemingly unstoppable. Despite how terrifying her power seemed to be, however, at first, Emma had been overjoyed. A hero, though dark and terrible, had managed to do, to deliver, what nobody had dared to dream about for well over a decade.

Hope.

Even Emma had felt that hope. Even if she had nothing to look forward to but a cold cell for... ever, for one, shining moment, she felt hope.

And then came the speech from Scarlet Knight, naming herself as Scarlet Dragon afterward. Helmet off, white hair shining under the lights, red eyes looking out into the crowd, crimson red skin.

" _I'm saying this now. I was the Scarlet Knight, your protector. I am now the Scarlet Dragon, and I am_ still _your protector. And I am not alone. I am here to stand between you and things like the Endbringers. My powers may be scary to you. I can't change that. But I am fighting_ for _you. My powers were given to me for a reason, and I'm choosing to use them to help those of you who can't help yourselves._

" _After all."_ A horribly, painfully familiar smile rose on the red, monstrous cape's face. _"_ _Just because someone is dark, doesn't mean they're the bad guy. There are beautiful things in the night as well as in the day, and_ I _will be standing between those monsters in the dark and the light of our civilization."_

"Taylor," Emma breathed.

One small part of her heart was filled with hope. The hope that she _hadn't_ killed her former friend.

The rest was of sheer dread. The dread that she _had,_ and the universe itself reared up in anger over her crime.

* * *

Jonas was stone-faced as he listened to Emma's words. The theory she'd built. She didn't have much information, but she had enough. At least, if it was true.

Alan looked between them. "If this is true, then we're good, right? They can't charge my daughter with a murder when the victim is still alive. At the least it would mitigate things somewhat, shouldn't it?"

Slowly, Jonas took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Parahumans make everything a complete mess. I've been through more forms and pages in the last month trying to get everything straightened out than I'd ever hoped I'd ever see. Crossing state lines, the involvement of a Ward as a suspect, even with that suspect no longer in custody, the classified information I've had to sign dozens of Non-Disclosure Agreements for..." He peered, almost owlishly, at Emma. "You're sure about this? That Scarlet Knight is Taylor?"

Emma nodded. "I know her face. I know her voice. I don't know how, but it's her. She's _red,_ and her hair's white, and she looks like she's been airbrushed, but... it's her. I know it."

Jonas' face was hard. "Christ. All right. I'll be back in about half an hour. I need to make some calls and get some papers copied."

Emma's heart raced with excitement as he left. She wasn't sure if it was the rush of possible freedom or dread that rushed over her, but her heart pounded all the same.

After a long moment of silence, Alan spoke softly. "How are they treating you here, Emma?"

She swallowed, licking her lips. "Okay. I'm given things to read, a small TV to watch. How's mom and Anne?"

His voice was quiet. "They're doing okay, given the circumstances. They miss you." His mouth opened and closed, looking uncertain before he finished. "Zoe has a hard time believing all this, Emma. That you did things to Taylor. That you did _anything_ to Taylor."

Her father's words felt like they were scraping a knife over a fresh wound. Emma shivered as she spoke. "I'm not proud of it, dad. At the time, what I was doing felt like it made sense. After a while I just kept doing it because I was used to doing it. I..." Her tongue felt thick, as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I didn't hurt her physically, but I hurt her a lot, dad. And I can't make up for it. Even if she's actually alive, I can't say I'm sorry. She wouldn't believe it." Emma slumped in her chair as she finished her thought, her voice quiet. "I wouldn't believe it, either."

The words hung in the air. Long minutes passed in silence before Jonas returned. He set down a stack of forms in front of father and daughter, at least six inches thick, and held out two pens.

"Start reading and signing." Jonas said with obvious annoyance. "This is going to take a while."

Alan stared at the stack as he took the offered pen, his voice faint. "The forms I signed for Shadow Stalker were a lot thinner."

Jonas' lip twitched upward. "Welcome to parahuman law. Everything should be clear on the next meeting with the judge. Until then, I can't say anything further."

* * *

 _May 22, 2011_

"All right. Let's lay it out." Judge Anderson spoke. The man was in his sixties, his dark skin contrasting with the off-white of the wall behind him. "This has been a bureaucratic wrangle ever since this whole thing started. It didn't help with Bakuda bombing the damn city." He rubbed the side of his face, a recent scar prominent in his skin.

Jonas' voice was firm as he spoke two words. "They know."

The judge, and the prosecutor, Laura Davis, shared a look. After a moment, Laura spoke, her voice carefully neutral. "I do believe you have our attention."

Jonas opened a file folder, placing it on the judge's desk. "I want to state for the record that I protest the issues with the laws concerning a parahuman's right to protect their identity when it comes up against an accused's right to confront their accuser."

Judge Anderson nodded. "So noted. Unfortunately without a Supreme Court ruling, it isn't going to get anywhere." He looked over Alan and Emma, his gaze cold and assessing. "Miss Davis, you may present the full briefing of information to our defendants."

Laura nodded with a frown on her lips. "Here is what we know. On the morning of January the Eighth, Taylor Hebert's corpse was discovered in her locker by the school janitor, who had arrived to clean up for the weekend. Her identity was confirmed by comparing her DNA with samples at her home. The measures were necessary, because the insects in the locker had eaten away at her. Her eyes were devoured, there was very little of her face left, and nearly thirty percent of her body was consumed by the insects inside."

Emma's heart leapt up into her throat.

" _Don't worry Taylor. They'll keep you company for a while. You needed to make new friends anyway."_

Laura's voice went on, unknowing about the train of Emma's thoughts. "After she was cleaned up, the coroner did an autopsy. It was difficult to determine the exact cause of death, but the high levels of stress hormones in her blood, the bacteria that had contaminated her wounds, and the venom from the various species of spiders all contributed. In the end, the stress was the final straw, and her heart failed. Unusual in a teenager, but considering the circumstances, not out of the realm of possibility." Laura opened a manilla folder in front of her, and Emma couldn't help but flinch at the sight of the skeletal, grisly photos she got a glimpse of.

If it wasn't for the curly, long brown hair, Emma could almost have believed it was of someone else. A nearly bare skull looked back at her through the photo. It was hard to see the photographs, the plain evidence of her crime lain out in front of her. "Th-then how?"

Laura glared at her, then continued. "On April fourth, early in the morning, one Daniel Hebert called the PRT. He claimed his daughter had returned from the dead. After a rather exciting misunderstanding, her identity was confirmed by two factors. Her DNA comparison, which matched both her father and the DNA still on file from the previous investigation, though that took a while longer. Her grave was exhumed, confirming that she was not a clone, dimensional analogue, or simply mistaken."

The next set of pictures made Emma pale. An open coffin, the lining torn, clear evidence of someone having punched and kicked at the interior from the inside.

Alan was pale as he spoke. "That...that's not possible. We were _there,_ at her funeral. We couldn't have buried her alive. It was two weeks after she..."

A twitch on Laura's lips. "As far as we can tell, she wasn't buried alive. She was dead when she was pulled out of the locker. She was dead on the autopsy table. She was dead when she was put in the ground. We have a great deal of evidence supporting all these points. And then, after three months in the grave, she awakened and teleported out. The first power she showed. I'm fairly sure she's shown a lot more since. Especially since she, apparently, killed the damned Simurgh."

Judge Anderson spoke, his voice harsh. "Even before that happened, I was taking this case very seriously. Now, at this point, I'm getting pressure from up the chain to push things along." He stared at Emma, a frown on his face. "This crime is quite a terrible one, young lady. Most of the issues here have been about the minutiae of legal issues. I've been wrangling back and forth between your lawyer and the prosecution over hypothetical problems for weeks, as this is a case that may set precedent for future cases involving parahumans."

The ground swirled under Emma. She would have easily fallen over, if it weren't for the chair.

Alan looked back and forth between the judge, prosecution, and defense lawyer. "What's the issue, precisely? If she is alive, why are we still facing a wrongful death charge? It's ludicrous."

Laura looked at him, her tone serious. "This isn't a case where someone was missing and presumed dead, Mister Barnes. We had a corpse. She didn't get taken out, brought to the hospital in a coma. She was either dead, or close enough to dead to fool _everyone,_ for the two weeks she was under the eye of medical professionals and forensics professionals. She had a death certificate. She didn't get up during examination the day she was found. She clawed at the interior of her coffin two and a half months _after_ being put in it. That a death occurred is very clear, and that it was undone by parahuman power doesn't change the fact that we had her corpse."

Then Jonas spoke, sounding tired. "I've been wrangling over this the whole time. There's three reasons why I wasn't able to get less than a manslaughter charge. When the PRT was founded and parahuman law had to be written, the hypothetical was brought up about how we might deal with a situation like this. If a parahuman had, for example, a cloning power used to secure his civilian identity and an assailant killed the clone. Or if a parahuman turned up with the power to regenerate, however slowly, that they were out of commission for a long period. Charges would still apply to the assailant, concerning murder to the appropriate degree."

Judge Anderson nodded. "I'm reluctant to set the precedent here, but I find myself forced to, regardless." He looked at Emma seriously, his eyes narrow with consideration. "Did you or Sophia have any idea that Taylor was a parahuman before this? Before January?"

Emma couldn't help but feel confusion, laying on top of the feeling of fear. "No. No idea."

Laura spoke, her voice cold. "She has stated that the experience in the locker was her trigger event. That's the second reason I can't drop the charge. When she was pushed into that locker and eaten alive by those insects, she was _not_ a parahuman. She had no powers. When the assailants did it, as far as they knew, they were doing it to an ordinary teenage girl, not someone who could simply endure the experience, or escape it, or break out of it. If Taylor had been an ordinary person, she would simply be dead, now. That her power revived her, and so spectactularly at that, is a simple stroke of luck. A crime was committed. That the worst part of that crime was undone by powers we don't understand doesn't change the crime."

Alan clenched his teeth. "You can't put my daughter away for fifteen years! I can fight you on this! I don't care what it takes. One phone call to the press and everyone knows who she is."

Laura looked at him with disapproval. "Mister Barnes. You don't have a legal or _sane_ position to stand on, here. Scarlet Dragon is a powerful parahuman. One who was victimized by your daughter, and is only alive because of parahuman powers which we do not understand, only can deal with. Secondly, revealing the identity of a hero who wishes to keep their identity secret, even an independent, carries hefty jailtime as it opens up their families to retaliation. And she's made enemies. On her first day awake, she defeated Lung. A few weeks later, she broke Bakuda's siege of the city. And now she's killed the Simurgh. There are people who will want to harm or kill her, because of what she's done. If they can't kill her, they'd kill her family. Because of that, we are protecting her identity as seriously as any Protectorate cape. Third, we have a responsibility to keep all parties alive and healthy, as much as possible. The reason your daughter hasn't been allowed out on house arrest isn't because we have a grudge against her. It was for her _protection._ How do you think a parahuman who had gone through not one but _two_ immensely traumatic experiences in short order at the hands of your daughter would react on seeing her out and free? Especially since we have had no way of knowing how stable she might be after such an experience?"

Alan took a deep breath, then shuddered, his face going pale.

Laura nodded. "And now she's amassing a great deal of political capital. Hell, public opinion is on her side, even though she looks like Satan's daughter. Releasing her civilian identity? Odds are pretty damn good her father will be killed by an Endbringer cultist or the Slaughterhouse Nine or kidnapped by someone, _anyone,_ who would want to get control over her. I've no doubt the Protectorate's trying what they can to ensure she stays on their side. Hell, she's too powerful to force to do anything, and nobody sane would want to."

Alan clenched his hands. As he sucked in a deep breath, he was interrupted.

"Dad. It's okay." It was the hardest words Emma had ever spoken.

Alan looked at her, anger on his face. "You don't know what you're saying, Emma. This is your _life_ we're talking about."

Emma nodded, her voice faint. "I know. I know it is, Dad. But I did these things...you didn't. I hurt Taylor. I... I didn't do the right thing. For all we knew, she was actually, really _dead_ , and I... I didn't do anything. You pulled us out of the city, and all I could think about was _that I got away with it._ " She swallowed, tears running down her cheeks. "I... I just don't care anymore. I don't deserve to be out and free after what I did. I don't want to see you go down for what I did, Dad."

Silence reigned in the room for a long moment. Then, finally, the anger drained away from Alan, leaving a tired, resigned man who looked ten years older than his actual age. "You're my daughter, Emma. I can't not try."

She smiled faintly, weakly. "I know." She looked at Judge Anderson. "I'll accept the plea bargain as it stands. I'm asking you to believe me... my Dad didn't know any of it. Sophia saved us once. He repaid that. She hurt Taylor, threatened Madison and I, and our families, but before all that... she helped us. He couldn't have known what she'd do."

Judge Anderson nodded slowly. "I'll take that into consideration."

* * *

 _August 6, 2011_

 _Well Emma, welcome to the second week of the next fifteen years. And you're lying here, staring at a book you don't care to remember, bored out of your mind._

She would serve three years in a juvenile hall facility. Then she would be transferred to a minimum security prison for the twelve after that. Considering everything, she got off lightly, and she knew it.

Her cell wasn't extravagant, but it was comfortable. She was allowed books, and a few hours of supervised internet access every day. She had never been a very big reader, that had been Taylor's thing, but she wasn't about to complain about it. She'd either learn to enjoy reading or learn to enjoy watching the walls or count dots in the ceiling.

Books didn't sound so bad, then.

A knock echoed on her cell door, and one of the guards was standing there. The big man looked at her, annoyance on his face. "Visitor for you, Barnes."

Emma blinked, then smiled as she figured that Faith or Mom or Anne might be visiting. It would be good to see them. Setting the book aside, she got to her feet, letting herself get escorted to the meeting room.

It was a simple enough room. Nothing extravagant, just a few uncomfortable chairs, a metal table bolted to the floor, the wallpaper designed to resemble wood, though it was just wallpaper. Brick was behind the thin wall of plaster. Nothing but the cheapest for the Johnson Correctional Facility For Youths.

Emma settled into the chair, closing her eyes as she settled in. It was difficult, looking forward to the next fifteen years here, or in places like this. But there wasn't anything else she could do.

The door clicked open, and Emma opened her eyes. Blood rushed away from her face as she took in the sight. Her heart hammered as she struggled to breathe.

Taylor settled into the chair opposite. She wore a red jacket, black shirt. She looked pale, but otherwise unchanged from the last time she'd seen her former friend. Not red-skinned, not beautiful, just...almost painfully ordinary. The lack of her glasses, the lack of faint squinting Emma had always known from Taylor, seemed to change her face.

"Hello, Emma." Taylor spoke, her voice cold.

Emma swallowed. "T-Taylor. I h-heard you came back."

"No thanks to you." Taylor took a moment to sweep her eyes up and down, examining Emma's orange prisoner suit. "Prison clothing suits you." Her lip twitched slightly. "Personally, I'd have put you in a sack. Preferably the itchiest one around, but I suppose that wouldn't actually solve anything."

Emma's hands trembled, struggling to gather her voice. Finally, she managed softly. "Why are you here?"

Taylor tilted her head slightly. "Lots of reasons. But here's the main one." She leaned forward, her voice dropping an octave, the iris of her eyes turning red. "Why did you kill me?"

Emma shuddered, pulling back onto her seat. "I didn't mean to. B-but you're okay, now, right?"

Her eyes went entirely red, glowing faintly with a hellish light. "Okay? I _died_ because of you. You know what I remember? You _laughing_ as you walked away, even as I begged for someone, anyone, to let me out. I remember the bugs that had colonized your little prank. They _gnawed_ at me while I was still alive. Do you have any idea how it feels to feel thousands of tiny little jaws biting, feeding, feasting on your flesh? The pain, the sickness as that _shit_ in that locker filled my wounds?"

Emma couldn't pull back any further, feeling like a rabbit with a broken leg staring into the eyes of a hungry wolf.

Taylor hissed lowly, while the room's temperature dropped rapidly. "There's some downsides to my state, you know. I will never have children, because of you. If it weren't for certain abilities and help from others, I would never have a chance of growing up properly. I'd be stuck at fifteen, forever, because of you. My father nearly starved himself to death, because of you. The _only_ reason you have the luxury of oxygen right now is because he still lived when I reawoke." Her glare sharpened. "I asked you a question, Emma. Why did you turn on me? What was so damned important that you thought it was such a grand idea to keep on going until it left me a corpse?"

Emma trembled, struggling to breathe as she choked the words out. "W-when you were away, at summer camp, two years ago. The ABB set a trap for me and my Dad. They nearly..."

" _Nose...Eye...Mouth...well, you can hide the ears with the hair. So maybe I'll take both. Which will it be?"_

Emma licked her lips, trying to not stare right into the cold, expressionless face of her former victim. "They wanted to use me, use us, as an initiation. A way to prove themselves to the gang. I t-tried to fight back." She let out a bitter, helpless laugh. "They'd have killed me for it. Shadow Stalker stepped in, saved us... she taught me how to be strong. So I could fight, so I wouldn't be stuck and weak like that again."

Taylor was silent for a moment. Then she nodded slowly. "So you two became friends. And when I got back from summer camp..."

Emma's eyes dropped to the table, unable to meet Taylor's eyes anymore. "I could see Sophia didn't like you. I felt... I had to break away from you. The Emma who went into that alley was weak, and y-you were a part of that. Every time I tore at you, I was trying to tear away from who I had been. I had to become strong, strong so I wouldn't..."

Taylor's voice was quiet, still cold, but just slightly softer. "End up back there."

Emma nodded meekly, keeping her gaze downcast.

Taylor's fingers clinked on the table, then her voice spoke, cold and hard. "The sad part is, you were sold a lie. Sophia didn't show you how to be strong. She didn't teach you how to fight back or use your head. All she showed you was how fucked up she was, and you couldn't see it." There was a slight clink of metal on metal.

Emma's heart leapt up into her throat as she saw the familiar flute. It had been cleaned meticulously, perhaps by seawater or perhaps by simple care, but it still showed all the damage done to it. Battered, dented, unplayable, unusable. A defiled memory of a dead mother. She looked up into Taylor's still-glowing eyes, her heart racing with fear.

"I see you recognize it." Taylor spoke, her anger tightly restrained, though very visible. "I wondered whether it was you or Sophia that tossed it into the bay."

Somehow, the flute seemed to loom large. Beyond Taylor herself, it was the largest reminder of her crime, the biggest symbol of what she had thrown away in her efforts to be strong. Everything their friendship had been. Taylor took the flute back as Emma's fingers reached for it, almost instinctively.

Taylor's voice was filled with rage as she spoke. "No. You don't get to touch it. Not again, Emma. Never again. You've hurt me a thousand times over. You have no privileges. No leeway. When you get out of here, if you ever do, you'd best tread very, _very_ carefully."

Emma could only cringe back, the fear nearly overpowering.

Taylor's eyes narrowed as she spoke, sharp fangs visible with her curled lips. "You know, when you started on your little campaign of torture on me, I'd hoped you had some good reason. Sophia twisting your head, maybe. Apparently she's a twisted little psycho. Or even maybe something I did. Not being with you during something, or maybe even saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It would have angered me, but I could get it. But this? No. I understand completely now, Emma. It never was about me, was it? It was all about you. From the beginning. About everything. Even when we first _met,_ it was about you."

The room darkened into shadow, despite the lights buzzing above them. Emma managed, barely, to strangle out." W-wait!"

Taylor got to her feet, shadows and darkness seeming to boil off her, burning with power. "I heard you accepted the plea bargain. Fifteen years for my life, for everything you put me through. In the world from which I gained my power, what you did would have had you _burnt at the stake._ You got off lightly for all this." Her eyes flared with red light, her anger seeming to rise to a peak. "But you only chose to admit what you did after you'd been caught. Had you not been arrested, would you have _ever_ confessed to what you did? Or would you have just tried to forget me? Forget the blood on your hands? Just have a nice, long, happy life...ignoring the corpse you left behind?"

Emma's mouth gaped as she tried to speak, to utter a denial. Only...she couldn't. That...

Taylor let out a sound of satisfaction. "I thought so. I can never forgive you for what you have done. For everything you put me through. For the fact I am _dead._ For what you did to my father. For the fact you tried to hide and run." She _growled_ , and the sound was only vaguely human. "There was a time when I would have named my daughter after you, if I ever had one. You were my sister in all but blood. Now? You broke that bond. It is only because of who _I_ am that I am not just another corpse. I am now the _Dragon._ And from this moment forth, my former sister in all but blood... no matter what you accomplish, no matter what you do, no matter how much you might _beg_ for it, I shall never forgive you. You are and _forever will be beneath me._ "

In a pulse of shadow, Taylor was gone.

Emma could only sit there and sob.


	86. Titanomachy 8-1

A/N: Finally! Let's move forward!

* * *

I really needed a bath. So I took one. Luckily, I had options. So I revisited the ancient bathhouse, as I needed to unwind and the castle was nicely accommodating. It was helpful to have a sentient castle working for you, at times. Though she _was_ a bit stubborn about updating things.

Since my first dream of the castle, I hadn't come back here with the intent to immerse myself in blood. The revulsion at the idea of immersing myself in blood seemed to be something that remained from my days as a living being. Having died being trapped in a locker filled with rotted blood and hygiene products didn't help. As a vampire, though, the idea was appealing, even alluring, which was even weirder with the revulsion added to it. I both _wanted_ and _hated_ the idea of bathing in blood.

Still, the blood was formed from my power. Basking in it felt _good_ in a way I didn't have the words to describe. I sank myself beneath the surface of the hot blood, allowing it to soak into my skin, my hair, my very being.

Well, there goes the revulsion bit. I felt _awesome._ It was almost enough to make me completely forget about Emma.

Almost.

I could see her in my mind's eye. For one moment, I could see the friend I had for all those years. The one friend I had when I was still alive. But the memory was tainted, not just by what she'd done to me before that last act that killed me. It was the knowledge that, even when were kids, Emma _never_ really cared about me. All she cared about was herself.

It was hard, facing that. The friendship I had so treasured, the friendship that she used to cut into me so deeply...had never really been all that important to her. The Emma Barnes who made my life hell was the broken remnants of a person, but the person she was before being broken wasn't who I thought she was.

Aaand...there were hands on my back. Gentle, caressing hands, but hands all the same. I floated to the surface, wiped the blood from my eyes, and looked over my shoulder.

Of course. I should have guessed.

"Hello, Meridia." I sighed.

She smiled a little mischievously, her form mostly obscured by the literal blood bath she'd invited herself into. "Greetings, My Lady. I sensed you were upset." Her hands stroked their way over my skin, gentle, cool, but soothing. Stroke. Stroke. Strooooke. That felt _way_ too good considering how simple her motions were.

I sighed again. "Meridia, keep those hands above my shoulders."

She pouted, but moved her hands back upwards, kneading her fingers into my shoulders. "What has you so upset, My Lady?"

I stayed silent for a moment as her fingers kneaded into my flesh. I could feel she had to press pretty hard, my flesh and skin resisting her fingers somewhat, but...oh, yeah, that felt good.

Finally, I spoke. "I saw the one who killed me. The one who betrayed me. It dredged up a lot of memories. I found out why she did it...and I saw who she really was. And an ugly part of her that always had been. I'm just..." I sighed as I tried to gather my thoughts. "There's a part of me that misses the friend I once had. It's small, but there. I'm wondering just how much of that person was real. What we could have been if she hadn't been broken."

Meridia's fingers stilled for a moment, then she rubbed the back of my neck. When she spoke, her voice was soft. "You are thinking like him, My Lady."

I looked over my shoulder, frowning.

Meridia sighed and shook her head, her white hair stirring in the blood somewhat. "Our Lord Dracul made us for many reasons, My Lady. But it was plain to see that he had many regrets. In between the rampages and campaigns, he returned to privacy in the castle. Sometimes, we would not see him for weeks. But always, he would return, forlorn, lost, sad... and then it would return to rage and he would launch another campaign, another plan, to kill as many of Solin's followers as he could."

I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking, considering, remembering what he had showed me. While Dracul had showed me a lot of his life, his experience, he didn't share everything. Still, it was enough for me to realize what Meridia was talking about. "He spent a lot of his time brooding over what he'd lost, the life he could have had, wishing things could have been different."

Meridia's fingers stroked over my shoulders. "And over the centuries, such brooding consumed him. It is plain to know he had regrets, My Lady, though he didn't share them. There is a time and place for regrets, but it is easy for them to consume a person. Lord Dracul never thought of the future, beyond his vendetta. I believe you would wish for more than he, My Lady."

I nodded slowly, letting out a sigh. "Yeah. It's just..."

Meridia chuckled softly. "The past is an issue, My Lady. I would not presume to tell you what you might do with it. Simply know this. You are now the Lady of Darkness. Among the gods, your power has only one equal in potential. It is my hope you will use it well, but to do so, a clear mind and a strong soul are required. Regardless of your desires, your hands will shape the future of your world. I think it would be best if you looked forward. Put the betrayer behind you. Make a choice about her if you will, but move on once it is made. Dwelling upon it serves nothing."

I drew in a deep breath, chuckling slightly. "For a demon of lust, Meridia, you've got a good point."

Her voice was filled with amusement. "I am a demon of _desire,_ My Lady, and desire must be sophisticated enough to understand what it wants, beyond the immediate." She chuckled. "Though immediate desires are fun, too. But a desire denied, or repressed, for a time before its release...ah. That is most exquisite."

I closed my eyes, letting the tension bleed out of me as I relaxed against Meridia's gentle fingers.

Much as I enjoyed the time here, relaxing while basking in my own power, I had things to do. Though, maybe another five minutes...

I cleared my throat. "Meridia. Hands."

She sounded embarrassed, her hands moving back up again. "Apologies, My Lady."

Right. Enough of that. "I appreciate the talk, but please, get out."

Meridia sloshed her way out of the bath, dripping blood, and I was careful _not_ to look her way. I needed time alone. Because reasons.

Stupid sexy succubus.

* * *

"You're sure they're not dead?"

Death looked at me, a long-suffering and somewhat annoyed look in his eyes. "Yes, I am fairly certain neither Coil nor Apostle is dead. Neither of their souls have come into my hands, in any of the universes your world is connected to and through. The powers of the Abominations make things difficult in places, but I am fairly certain they aren't dead just yet."

I sighed, tapping my fingers on my desk, settling back into the too-comfortable chair. Dracul's study was so _very_ nice. Skull-paperweights aside.

After a moment's consideration, I spoke. "Is there a way they could be dead and you not know it, Death?"

After a long moment, he nodded. "One way. Only one I am aware of, at any rate. If their soul was destroyed before they died. Then there would be naught for me to harvest, nothing to bring to where it belongs. Only faint whispers of the soul, at best, and it is simple for such to get lost, gathered within the essence and life of every thing around. Souls are, unfortunately, complicated. If they were simple, it would make my existence far simpler, but they are not." A faint smile lifted his lips.

I sighed. "Well, I've got things to do. I can't spend all my time looking for them." Also, the portal I was working with looked downright ridiculous now. I licked my lip in thought, before I looked at Death carefully. "Any word on the Endbringers?"

He shook his head. "Through my senses, no. They are quiet, for the moment, though if their cycle is still intact, they will move any day now. I will know when they begin to kill, but there is little living so far beneath the earth for Ifrit to kill. And Lotan is not killing anything at the moment, either. Until he moves, I doubt he will even kill a single fish. Once he does, however..."

I nodded. "I just hope our projects are ready. We've spent a lot on preparing. So has Dragon. I hope it's enough."

Which reminded me, there was something I needed to check up on.

* * *

I looked up. And up. Finally, I gave up and just floated upward, because there was _no_ possible way I could take it in properly just standing on the ground.

When Dragon asked for my help in building an anti-Endbringer weapon, I agreed. After all, it would only make things easier if we pooled our resources to take on either Behemoth or Leviathan, and the groundwork would be all the more important if we needed to actually fight an Abomination. The last month and a half I spent working alongside her in the Light Plane, combining our powers and expertise, piece by piece, to forge the weapon.

But this? This was beyond expectations. On a crystal platform stood a huge humanoid figure, gleaming with shining metal. It was sixty feet tall, the arms and legs thicker than concrete pillars. It was armored, thick plates of magical alloy combined with near-impervious Tinkertech compounds that made the result stronger than it had any right to be. It was also _bristling_ with weapons. Blades, a hammer, and fists larger than buses backed by pistons and magic.

Maybe it would be enough to take on Behemoth. Just maybe.

Dragon floated beside me, sounding pleased as we went. "What do you think?"

I couldn't help but smile. "What are we calling it?"

She laughed softly. "I was thinking something along the lines of...Atlas."

I took a moment to think on that. Then I understood. "The titan who holds up the Earth."

Dragon nodded with a chuckle. "Actually, in the myths he holds up the sky, not the Earth. But either way, I thought it appropriate. We're pinning a lot of hopes on him. Here's hoping it's enough. I've got backup plans in case it isn't, but...it just might do it. Leviathan is likely to be too quick for Atlas to handle. So our other plans are set for him."

I nodded. There wasn't much more we could do. I spent the time training, preparing, honing my powers and my skills with Dragon, but until I was actually tested, I wouldn't know for sure how well we'd prepared.

Hopefully, we still had time to distribute. Every day gave us a few more options. One would have to be enough.

We had Endbringers and an Abomination to kill, after all.

* * *

The machines around me hummed. Gadgets, scientists, and Tinkertech, both old and new worked with frantic activity as they readied for the work.

And I just stood there. Waiting. Feeling useless. I knew I wasn't, but I still felt that way after I'd done my half an hour of prep work.

The figure in front of me tried to take her time to examine me, but she couldn't. Not with her flicking back into a turning motion. Every six seconds. Solid gray, the field around her having existed for twenty years.

Sarah Kissinger. The first known victim of Gray Boy.

" _Heard a lot a-about you."_ Sarah managed to say, interrupted between one loop and the next. Her gray hair fluttered in the bubble, falling over her gray face.

I smiled slightly, my fingers clenching and unclenching a little. "I'm not surprised. I'm pretty big news."

Flicker. Sarah turned back to me. _"Well, you've done a lot."_ Flicker. Sarah turned. _"You think you can help me?"_

I took in a deep breath. "Honestly I don't know. I don't have power over time. But I want to try." I met her eyes between the loops. "I make no promises. I hope it works. Powers are... a real pain in the ass, sometimes."

A faint smile was on her lips, even when she turned again. _"I've heard lots of promises over the years. Either way, thanks for trying."_

God, I could feel my heart squeezing.

"Ladies, we're just about ready here." Doctor Lloyd spoke, the older man's white, frazzled hair sprouted in all directions, as if he'd just been electrocuted. "The temporal scanning equipment's calibrated. The countermeasures are in place in case anything goes wrong." He frowned a little. "Though temporal mechanics is so much more of an issue than most physics. Luckily the possibility of a paradox is practically zero in this case. Aside from the paradox of Gray Boy's power in the first place. It's not a true temporal effect, due to the persistence of memory and ongoing experience. The odds are quite good we can break the loop without undue trouble, if we actually can break the loop."

I blinked and looked at him. "Paradox?"

He made a dismissive wave of his hand. "Theoretically they can't happen. Laws of causality prevent it. But powers are a problem and there's a lot of unknowns. We can't throw out physics entirely, but the best we can do is try and figure out how powers work. There hasn't, as of yet, been a power that violates causality. There's a number of ideas about how exactly Gray Boy's power works, actually. The most popular one in academic circles is that it's a particular pocket dimension with certain set physical laws. We already know that Gray Boy could alter how long the loops last, and..." He grimaced as he looked between me and Sarah. "What happens to the victims during the loops. By that we suspect there's a 'key' something about his power that let him do these things. A lot of the effort we've spent was in trying to replicate that key. Nothing's worked so far, but that hasn't stopped us from trying."

I nodded, turning back to Sarah. "I've got a few options. I'm going to try the non-direct ones first. The best option I have is also the most dangerous, so I'll try it last."

Flicker. Sarah turned, then nodded. _"Got it."_

I cracked my knuckles and concentrated.

First, I attempted to open a Shadow Portal inside the bubble. Dracul had attempted it when he was imprisoned, but something about the interior of the time-loop had torn the portal apart before he could make use of it. I was hoping the source of it being outside would solve that issue.

A spot of blackness appeared inside the gray bubble, but it was almost instantly ripped to shreds. Sarah flinched away from it, before she flickered, and turned again.

I licked my lip, trying again, this time trying to form the portal as quickly as possible. Yet again, the instant it got larger than a fist, it was torn apart.

Alright. Hardball, then.

I looked up. Before we'd begun, I'd set up a Shadow Gate on the ceiling. The thought? If I couldn't open a portal inside the bubble, maybe I could take the whole damn bubble into the Shadow Plane and try cracking it open from there, within my domain.

The Shadow Portal snapped open. With a gesture, the magnetic locks that held it in place disengaged, and the rather large portal ring fell to the ground, the sphere of Sarah's prison neatly passing through the center of the ring.

The portal, unfortunately, was torn apart by the impervious bubble of the edge of the sphere. The gate clanged to the ground, the portal inside it fading away.

Flicker. Sarah turned.

I ignited my claws. Carefully, I placed my burning claws on the edge of the sphere, then tried to cut through the edge of the barrier.

Nothing. My claws sat upon the edge of the bubble, despite me pushing as hard as I could, without even the slightest change. The edge of the sphere was more impervious than even Endbringer flesh. The searing flames of the Hells, designed to defeat and destroy defenses, and they were useless against this.

I pulled back, taking in a deep breath. Then I manifested the Void Sword.

Doctor Lloyd took a step back as the temperature in the room abruptly dropped.

Carefully, angling the blade to just barely cut into the sphere, and avoid putting the lethal coldness into Sarah, I tried to sink the tip of the blade into the bubble.

The blade that had cut through the Siberian simply _warped_ and emerged from the other side of the sphere, without actually contacting with the power that made it. I couldn't feel the characteristic rush of power through the sword that meant it was feeding off of energy.

The Void Sword vanished. I clenched my hands and sighed. "Dammit. I was afraid of this."

Flicker. Sarah turned, her face falling into disappointment. _"You're not the first who tried and failed. Thanks, though."_

Lloyd shook his head. "Still, we got some more data. That space-warping effect hasn't been observed before. It might help on figuring out how to get through it. Unfortunately powers are fairly unique, so..."

I sighed and nodded. "I'll see what I can pull up in the castle's library." Looking on Sarah with my heart in my throat, I spoke softly. "I'll be back here. I'm not giving up yet."

* * *

Three hours in the library. Three hours and no closer to a solution.

Maybe it was a little arrogant of me to expect that I could solve a problem that twenty years of scientists and various heroes hadn't. Actually, put that way, it did sound pretty damn arrogant. But the feeling of failure and disappointment remained, no matter what intellectual excuses I told myself. I had the information of eight hundred years of compiled knowledge about my particular brand of magic at my fingers, and they weren't of any help. I had the chance to go through a fair bit of information Dracul had compiled over the centuries. In his world, there weren't too many time-bending effects, despite the existence of magic. Chronos, the Lord of Time, had the power, but that particular god tended to act as a recorder and compiler of history, and he hadn't had very much of a following. Chronos had, a long time ago, decided to compile history rather than make it, and barely took notice even when Solin's followers had destroyed the time god's temple when Chronos wouldn't aid the new Lord of Light.

Solin was a _serious_ ass. I already knew that from the memories Dracul gave me, but the history of things from before Gabriel's lifetime gave me even more information about what happened.

Still, the whole thing gave me a niggling, terrible idea. The prison of time that Gray Boy's victims were in was seemingly _designed_ to negate my abilities. Or rather, _Dracul's_ abilities, but I had a fair amount of overlap with his powers anyway. I'd thought that maybe I could defeat it with my powers from the outside, have a hint at some way of freeing Dracul in the future, but if I was right...

The Abomination that trapped him came up with the means to do so during their fight. Within a few hours, it ensured the last free god of that world couldn't escape, no matter how slippery, or clever, or experienced, or powerful he was.

I had to assume the active one on my world was _at least_ as dangerous. Adaptable, powerful, and capable of things I couldn't expect. I had memories of a furious battle between Dracul and the Abomination he fought, and all I could do was assume ours was just as bad at the least.

A throat cleared behind me, and I turned with a whirl, instinctively forming the Shadow Whip on my hand.

Alexandria looked at me, then at my hand. "A little jumpy? We had an appointment."

I blinked, then pulled my blood back into my body, letting my power dissipate. I'd...completely forgotten. We were supposed to talk about portal distribution, weapons, and armor for the Protectorate. "Right. I apologize. I've had a lot on my mind."

She inclined her head as she strode up next to me, sparing a glance at the books on the library's table. "So I see. Things didn't go so well in Oklahoma."

I shook my head. "Not so much. I'd hoped my power could do something to help Sarah." I looked down at my hands, clenching and unclenching them as I tried to pull myself together. "She doesn't deserve that. Nobody does. I know what it's like to be trapped. To have to endure that forever, it's..."

Alexandria's voice softened. "I do believe I understand your meaning, Scarlet." Her single eye examined me for a moment, before her tone turned businesslike once more. "We've outfitted a lot of heroes with resources you've provided. Armsmaster and Alucard have been making quite a few waves with their weapons, I understand. We're hoping the equipment is enough to change the paradigm."

My lip quirked. "Hopefully it's enough for the next Endbringer attack."

She nodded. "We're hoping for another miracle, in this case. But before that... we have to discuss something, and I'm afraid it can't wait."

I lifted an eyebrow, folding my wings behind my back. "Alright. I'm guessing it's important."

A faint smile on Alexandria's lips. "The most important, actually." She lifted her head slightly, speaking loudly and clearly. "Door to Cauldron."

An orange octagon appeared at Alexandria's side, snapping into existence almost instantly. The interior of it showing a meeting room with drab, white walls, the windows showing a deep red sky.

I lifted an eyebrow. "I hadn't known you had a cape with portal abilities on hand."

Alexandria's smile widened slightly. "There's a lot you don't know. But we need to compare notes. I need your help to save the world from something worse than the Endbringers."

I looked at her. Taking a long moment to examine the heroine I idolized as a child. If she was nervous, she was hiding it well. If I hadn't known better, I'd be sure that she did this sort of thing all the time.

Hell, maybe she did.

Finally, I spoke slowly. "I believe you have my attention."


	87. Titanomachy 8-2

A/N: And now, the unholy alliance begins.

Huh. Weird. The side with the gothic castle, monsters, demons, and vampire queen is the _less_ unholy side. That's...kinda weird. Really weird actually.

Anyway, FYI, it's been a while since I read Worm, and I've altered things a bit for Cauldron's central workings. Still imperfect, but I'm _trying_ to avoid the head-bangingly stupid bits.

* * *

I lifted an eyebrow as I looked through the portal, not stepping through just yet. "You know, for a secret conspiracy, I was expecting more cigarette smoke, maybe some flickering lights, maybe a hanging chain over there in the corner. This is kind of...drab, really." I looked out through the portal, and through the window shown, seeing a deep red sky. The moon was visible, despite it being daytime, but it looked like it was molten, burning with glowing lava. "That is a really neat view, though. Alternate Earth, hm?"

Alexandria's lip quirked. "You catch on quick. Can we please go through? It may be dangerous for us to be speaking here."

I tilted my head. "Nobody in my castle will talk."

She shook her head. "It's about making sure certain powers can't listen in. Remote viewers, postcognitives, and certain precogs. We have means to block them temporarily here, but it's limited and it's far easier to manage in an alternate dimension. I promise this is entirely legitimate. If we wanted to eliminate you, we'd do things differently."

Okay, good point. Still, I didn't like it much. I lifted my head, giving the Castle an order.

A wave of acceptance and anticipation rushed through me. It wasn't exactly easy communicating with Castlevania, but it was remarkably straightforward once you got used to it. "Alright, let's go." I said, stepping through the portal.

Alexandria stepped into the drab room behind me, visibly relaxing somewhat once the portal snapped shut.

After a moment's consideration, I tried to open my own Shadow Portal. There was a second of resistance, then it opened easily. Good. I wouldn't be so easily trapped away from my power. Without the power of the Shadow Plane at my command, I would just be a vampire. An extremely strong one, perhaps, but still a lot more limited than I was.

At Alexandria's curious look, I spoke. "Making sure I can still open portals here." With a thought, the Shadow Portal snapped shut.

The conference room's door opened, and a middle-aged, haggard-looking dark-skinned woman entered. She was dressed all in white, and despite the tiredness I could see in her posture, I could see self-confidence as well.

"Scarlet Dragon," She spoke, sounding tired. "I am Doctor Mother, and I am the leader of Cauldron."

I plastered on a smile. "Glad to hear it. Nice to meet you. Now what the hell is Cauldron?"

* * *

Halls, halls, halls. Slightly off-white, stupidly clean, and made of tiles. It made the place seem oddly otherworldly, as if it wasn't formed by a human mind, but instead by the clean, perfect, sterile order of a computer. Except I knew a (former?) computer intelligence, and Dragon's designs weren't sterile. So who the hell knew who made this place.

Doctor Mother spoke as she walked ahead of Alexandria and I, her voice echoing slightly off the halls. "Cauldron was founded in late Nineteen-Eighty-One. Before then, there were no parahumans at all. Powers arose because of what we call 'Agents.' There are millions of them that we've confirmed, though there may be a lot more we haven't accounted for. Most of them aren't active, though those that are can be dangerous enough. It's impossible to know just how many there are."

I tilted my head as I followed, frowning. "So you know where powers come from."

A faint smile on the older woman's face. "We do. We've even managed to figure out a lot about how to artificially connect people to Agents. That process enabled us to make a difference, to help keep the world in order, despite the difficulty and the setbacks."

Alexandria spoke then. "Our group is directly responsible for the creation of the Protectorate. We came to realize that without government support, without government sanction, parahumans the world over would be uncontrollable. Either they'd be marginalised and exterminated, or, more likely, they'd turn into warlords which would rip society apart. Our best estimates placed the United States as a failed state as of the late nineties, if we hadn't stepped in and acted as a moderating and stabilizing influence. Ever since powers began to arise, we've tried to buy us time. Time enough to build enough forces to fight and kill the Agents' originator."

We came to an elevator. As the doors slid open, I took a look inside. Plain white. And...unfortunately, small.

I gave Doctor Mother a glare. "Is there a set of stairs?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it, sighing. "Door to the lowest level."

The portal opened, showing a darkened hall. We stepped through, making our way towards a large security door, the sort one would see on a bank vault.

Doctor Mother's voice was filled with slight annoyance. "Normally we use Doormaker to go everywhere through Cauldron's complex. At the moment, however, a lot of his attention is taken up and being used by our preparations. We don't want to strain him too much, as he's one of our most valuable assets. Without Doormaker, our efforts would have been far less fruitful. Unfortunately it also means we can't put him through too much. His power's useful, and quite capable, but he's still got certain limits."

I nodded slowly. "So, I'm guessing you're about to show me something interesting."

Doctor Mother paused, then frowned at me.

Alexandria chuckled and shook her head. "We may as well dispense with the theatrics. Scarlet already knows more than most. Though exactly how...?" She tilted her head as she looked at me.

I shrugged. "I told most of the truth during my press conference. My power is from a world that was destroyed by a multidimensional being. Dracul managed to kill it, but he was trapped in a timeloop like Gray Boy's before he managed to do it. Then he managed to distract a second one of them into crashing here, but he couldn't do anything about the third. He's in the middle of an asteroid field that used to be his world. Something that's going to happen _here_ if we don't stop it. That's one of the reasons I've been acting the way I have. I'm gathering as many resources as I can to try and fight the thing. Though I don't know how it'll attack, if it's anything like what Dracul saw and fought, it's going to be overwhelming."

After a moment of staring, Alexandria sighed. "All this dancing around and you already knew. Maybe not the whole damn story, but you already knew. This would have been a lot easier if you told me when you manifested that damned castle of yours."

I lifted an eyebrow. "And why would I just casually say that? I was trying to figure out my resources. I do not know where the remaining Abomination is, who its avatar is, if it even is anybody, and what it's aware of. If it had attacked the castle the moment it appeared, then I would know something at least. But all I'm operating on is knowledge I was shown by a man who's been suffering for centuries _at least_ in the ruins of a dead world. I know it's powerful, far beyond that of the gods of the world from which my power came from. Dracul fought his for _hours_ , _alone_ , and he didn't manage to accomplish anything. I sought to build my forces as much as I could, as quietly as possible, once I was fairly sure the one active here either hadn't noticed me or didn't care."

Doctor Mother shook her head. "Still, it's an annoyance." She turned and pressed her hand against a panel next to the vault door.

With a hiss of escaping air, and the faint smell of rotten meat, it swung open. We stepped inside, and even I had to stop at the sight before me.

Wired to the ground, supported by a steel cage and distortions I could barely look at, was a corpse. A woman's face that was indeterminately ethnic, but beautiful. Golden hair cascaded from her head. Below that, however, the detail was...wrong. The skin on her torso was crisp, white, almost looking like it belonged on a mannequin. Her arms didn't exist, instead, the flesh seemed to go off into nothing. I say 'seemed' because it actually hurt my eyes to look.

And it got worse the lower it went. Her legs didn't exist. They merged together and sank into the ground, as if she had been some fleshy tree. But the ground itself was flesh, as well. Pristine, white, unnatural flesh. As my gaze swept over the ground, I could see various small features of humanity. Eyes, hands, arms, faces. As if the dead of every human who ever lived were gathered up and merged into a single being at random.

Doctor Mother's voice was quiet. "She landed here in Nineteen-Eighty-One. Her body covers approximately three-quarters of this Earth. Upon landing here, her biomass damaged and destroyed much of the planet, while assimilating whatever organic material that existed here. She did something wrong in its landing, however. We think she intended to land upon an entirely uninhabited version of Earth, and we certainly doubt she intended to open portals that allowed people to come here. Still, she was pulling herself together, healing the damage, creating her avatar, when we managed to kill it."

I folded my arms, a dreadful suspicion rising over me as I took in the shade of the corpse's hair. Golden. Cascading. Perfect. The body was marred only by one thing. The gaping knife wound sticking from her throat.

Everyone knew that shade of gold. That level of perfection. It didn't matter where you went on the planet, everyone knew it. How could they not?

I spoke, a sinking feeling in my gut. "The other Abomination is Scion. Fuck."

* * *

Huh. Cauldron had good tea. Earl Grey. It didn't actually sate my thirst at all, but it did taste pretty good.

We were back in the conference room, having taken a few minutes to let things sink in. Despite the suspicions Dragon and I had, Scion being the active Abomination was something I hadn't wanted to consider. Sure, a lot of things _fit,_ the overwhelming power for one. Scion was powerful enough to send Endbringers running when they attacked. The moment he showed up at an Endbringer battle, it was over.

Doctor Mother's voice droned a little, but what she was saying was still pretty damned interesting. "Ever since the pair arrived, we've done what we could to prepare. The power we used to kill the first one was limited by it in its final moments. When we struck, its avatar was very tied into the rest of its body. We hit it right when it was most vulnerable. Scion's taken far more damage fighting Endbringers, however. Whatever else is going on, he's not going to be vulnerable the same way. If striking through his avatar, his projection, whatever it is, would work, we'd have to do a lot more damage to it than even the Endbringers have."

I sighed, draining my cup of tea and putting it back on the table. "I doubt you've spent thirty years sitting around with nothing. What are the options you figured out?"

Alexandria nodded seriously. "We're the result of powers taken from his counterpart. Overall, we're more powerful than most natural triggers. We think it's due to the fact she hadn't intended to hand out certain powers. It was our hope we'd find a power, or a combination of them, that would be effective against Scion. You mentioned Dracul killed one. How?"

I tilted my head as I thought back. "He used his power to suborn a fragment, one that was designed to carry a weapon to use against others of its kind. He tricked it into firing off inside of it. Where it was, though, and what it looks like, I don't know. It's one of the few that survived the thing's death, but where it ended up in the graveyard downstairs I haven't a clue. They're not exactly labeled, and they're all mounds of crystal and flesh. It took Dracul _decades_ to find it. It unleashed bursts of energy through all the dimensions, attacking in every direction at once. The act took up most of its energy, but it was enough to kill the fucking thing."

Doctor Mother frowned at that. "And if the power's active somewhere, it may not even be here. Or if it is, we may not know how it's manifested. Even two identical formulas get different effects. A projection formula on one person may make a single unchanging projection, or a force-field covering, or make a malleable, shapeable projection. And that's assuming it didn't get cast off to become a natural trigger. We're fairly certain both of the Abominations shed most of their Agents before they landed. If they hadn't, Cauldron wouldn't be sitting here. It'd be in the middle of a gas giant-sized mound of flesh. Though they seem to have figured out certain tricks to hide the majority of their mass. The same principle as pocket dimensions. Still, we've been trying to gather up weapons that can destroy a planetary biosphere quickly. That's the kind of damage we'll need to do to kill one of these things in its true body."

I shrugged. "Why not drop Ash Beast on top of him? He'd do a fair bit of damage."

Doctor Mother looked somewhat amused. "That's one of the things we wanted to do. The two issues with that is that Doormaker's power has trouble with large amounts of energy. Ash Beast's explosions collapse the portals even as they form. Secondly, Scion's true body's behind some sort of barrier he's maintaining. We can't open a portal there, though we know where it is. If it were that simple, we'd have unleashed a few of the apocalyptic-level weaponry various Tinkers around the world have made. Plus, as much damage as Ash Beast does, compared to the size of Scion's counterpart, here, he would do a small amount of damage before he was destroyed."

I folded my arms, leaning back in my chair. "So what is your plan, precisely?"

Alexandria's lip twitched, before she frowned. "From the beginning? Gather an army of parahumans to fight back when the time comes. We don't necessarily need to destroy him entirely, but we do need to contain the damage as much as possible. If he slays all of us, and destroys a million Earths, but dies from losing too much energy and leaves just a few Earths with humanity intact upon it, it's a win for us. Before you came along, we were looking at a mere two percent of catalogued Earths possibly surviving the apocalypse. Now the number is at sixty percent. Either we win and stop his rampage, or we do enough to drain him of energy, so he hasn't enough strength to keep going."

Doctor Mother nodded. "We're also preparing other options. We think that if we can get a sufficient population of people out of Scion's reach, we can ensure something of humanity to survive. At the moment, we're building a ship, the Exodus. There's some Tinkertech involved, but that's mostly to get it out of the Earth's gravity well. It doesn't need to last very long. It's meant to head for the Alpha Centauri system, and it's got the equipment required to build a colony under a wide variety of conditions. Most likely an underground colony, but that's preferable to extinction. It would only be able to evacuate about a million people, but it's far better than nothing. If he drives all of humanity back into the stone age, it is highly unlikely any version of us will manage to rebuild civilization."

I shook my head as I spoke, hating the idea. This was a _lot_ of responsibility. It was good to know I wouldn't have to be acting alone, but it was still a daunting task. "It doesn't make much sense, though. The Abomination Dracul fought didn't appear until most of his planet was dead. Why would Scion show up back at the beginning and start helping people?"

Alexandria's lip quirked. "Actually that, we don't know. Thinkers have always had difficulty with Scion. Over the years, we've managed to figure out a fair bit about the Triggering process. We're fairly sure that the powers are made by them to specifically hold them as blank spots. There are ways to nudge around them, but it's difficult. But we know some things. Precogs aren't very common in the Protectorate for two reasons. The first being it's among the rarest powers to appear. The second being we recruit them and get them off Earth Bet whenever possible. With most being useless for Scion alone, they're still useful for a lot of projects."

I lifted an eyebrow at that.

Doctor Mother nodded. "We can't predict Scion directly. But we can predict certain things, such as the results of his actions. He rescues a cat from a tree, we can predict the cat escapes the tree, even though how and why isn't seen. But we can't ask if there even is a cat, if we aren't aware of it to begin with. Since his appearance, and his counterpart's landing here, we've used Thinkers to try and figure out what he will do. Our best precog's Trigger vision showed her what they do, before she was limited, in any case. They've destroyed hundreds, maybe thousands of civilizations to hone their abilities. And they enjoyed doing so. We don't know why Scion's been helping people for the last thirty years. But we do know that if he isn't destroyed, somehow, then he will target and destroy as many Earths as inhabited by humanity as he could. With our resources, we've managed to catalogue two hundred thousand inhabited Earths, though there are a great deal more worlds than that. We're using them as our sample to keep track of how many worlds he'll destroy. The number could be a lot larger. Or fewer. There's simply too many unknowns."

I nodded. It made sense, and they had longer to figure this stuff out than I did. "So what do you want me to do?"

Alexandria nodded at me. "We're hoping your portal ability will enable us to move the battlefield off Earth Bet and onto Scion's actual body. If we can do that, our chances improve immeasurably. Secondly, precogs have difficulty with you, much like they have difficulty with Scion, the Endbringers, and other precogs. We're hoping that means Scion will have trouble predicting you. Third..." She smiled slightly. "We're working on making sure you won't be the only god on the battlefield facing him. We know about Dragon, how she assumed the mantle of Light. We're working on getting the others released from their bonds before they emerge as Endbringers. We've already had some success.

"Lastly, with the timetable moved up, we've shifted into high gear. You're aware Dragon is, or rather _was,_ an AI?" At my nod, Alexandria continued. "After she tangled with the Dragonslayers and lost, repeatedly, in Two-Thousand-Six, her capabilities improved. We took the opportunity to take and activate one of her backups, in a secured Earth. Her ability to reverse-engineer and replicate the Tinkertech of other Tinkers is one of the most valuable abilities ever seen." She lowered her head slightly. "It was our hope that she would be able to finish some of Hero's work. Even if she couldn't, her power and nature as an AI was too valuable to risk it being lost."

I frowned. "Dragon's not going to be happy to hear about that."

Doctor Mother let out a humorless laugh. "Perhaps not. However, we have been staring down the barrel of a very, very large gun for the last thirty years. I haven't been able to afford 'tastefulness' for all that time. I've had to choose between hundreds or thousands of people in the now against the fate of billions in the future. I hate making those choices. Sometimes, even, I have made the wrong ones. But this responsibility fell on me when I drove that knife through the avatar downstairs."

I shook my head. "Still. Why haven't you done more to help?" I pointed at Alexandria. "You're one of Earth's greatest heroes. There's posters of you on walls for damn near every kid out there. If you've had these resources for the last thirty years, there's a lot more you could have done. Stopped the Slaughterhouse Nine before I had to, for starters."

 _That was well done._

Quiet you.

Alexandria was impassive. "There's a lot you're not aware of. A larger picture. Much of what we've done has had to be done carefully, in case Scion takes notice. We're not sure what his capabilities are. We assume that any power we have witnessed, he is capable of doing at an order of magnitude more powerfully. That includes certain perception powers. We know his attention isn't unlimited, otherwise we never would have gotten this far. But the best we can do is ensure he _does not become aware_ of us, and what we did to his counterpart, until the time is right. What do you know of Earth Aleph, its parahuman population?"

After a moment of thinking, I nodded. "They have a lot less than we do."

"One-one-hundredth," Doctor Mother spoke. "Aleph's parahuman population is far smaller than Bet's. You're not aware of it, but the other Earth next to Bet on the line of 'nearby' Earths, Gimel, also has approximately the same number. The next ones on either side of _those_ , Dalet and He, have even fewer. As low as thirty across the entire globe, though those powers are potent enough for them to cause problems. Earth Bet isn't in the state it's in because of a lack of work on our part. It's been _targeted._ And from the beginning, we've tried to act as a stabilizing force, to keep things intact enough to organize. We _wanted_ heroes. A lot more heroes than we actually have. Heroes under an organization can be acted upon, given orders, direction, the precise thing an army needs. And for a few years, once we built up enough to exert our influence, we got them. The Protectorate got global recognition, and it expanded into Canada and talks were underway to expand into Europe and the former Soviet Union."

I sucked in a breath. "And then Behemoth showed up."

Alexandria nodded. "Then Behemoth appeared. Understand we've been trying to walk a tightrope. No matter what we do, parahumans will trigger. People do terrible things to each other. Scion's appearance didn't change that, it's simply the results are more dramatic these days. We tried to gather up as many triggers as we could. We've bolstered the numbers of heroes with formulas made from here. Myself, Eidolon, Legend, and hundreds of others are working to try and keep the precarious balance out there. The problem is...when we've tried to project what happens if we add so much as a few dozen extra heroes per year? Worlds die."

I swallowed. "Scion likely figures something out... and goes insane right away."

Doctor Mother nodded. "That's about what we surmised. We've tried to keep a surplus of capes off Earth Bet. Too many, and worlds suddenly lose their future. Even with the Endbringers killing many capes, good and valuable ones, they tend to trigger more. We've been trying to buy as much time as we could. And hoping that we haven't lost a cape that was our best shot."

"Like Hero," Alexandria said quietly. "He was working on an antimatter generating weapon when the Siberian showed up and killed him. It's possible it might have killed Endbringers and would have been able to do immense damage to Scion's true body, but it was less than twenty percent complete. And even Dragon can't build a piece of technology out of nothing."

"That was the pattern. Or seemed to be so, anyway." Doctor Mother said. "Every stabilizing influence that showed up got killed. Dragon's creator died when Newfoundland sank. Kyushu? Japan was poised to be a regional power with a large proportion of Tinkers, which we've hoped would have a solution. Leviathan destroying it crashed Japan's economy and dashed a lot of our hopes. Russia was poised to sign an accord with the United States against parahuman threats... and right in the middle of their territory, the Sleeper appeared and started killing everything inside it."

"And now you're hoping I'm your next magic bullet." I muttered.

Alexandria's lip quirked, a faint bit of amusement in her voice. "Yes. But you've actually done things. And we're not relying on you alone. We're hoping at least a dozen or so gods from Dracul's world might be able to tip the balance in our favor. Eidolon, or rather, Apostle, is working on that right now."

More of the old pantheon free and working to help? That... could help. A lot.

Doctor Mother nodded. "On another note... regardless of your answer, we have a present for you." She lifted her head slightly and spoke. "Door to Holding Cell forty-two."

The now-familiar Doormaker portal snapped open. I looked through it and lifted an eyebrow. A young black teenager chained to the wall, a blinking collar around her neck. Her eyes were closed, but I would have recognized her anywhere.

"Huh," I said. "I wasn't expecting to get a free Sophia Hess. Is it Christmas already?"

* * *

A/N: Took a few liberties with Eden's appearance. While fanon says she's all silver, like Scion is gold, her description is actually not expanded upon much. I actually pictured her avatar being perfectly gold too, but I figured, considering she was able to perfectly mimic a human, there would be a few other differences to help interaction.


	88. Interlude: Preparations part 2

A/N: I want to note. Diseases suck. They make things so much harder than they have to be.

I was going to do more with this, but I'm hitting a bit of a block and I'm tired. So there's more of this kind of thing, but coming later.

Also, I want to thank Backtrax (on Spacebattles) for being awesome. El Presidente demands you raise your cups in his honor!

* * *

 _August 10, 2011:_

Sarah turned.

That's how her loop always started. She'd turn, as she had that day in the mall all those years ago, and view the gray haze that was her world now. These days, her view was occupied by all the researchers that even now worked tirelessly to find a way to break the loop she was in. After two decades, not even she was sure they'd pull it off anymore, but it wasn't like she was going anywhere.

It did help, though. Not being alone. She wasn't sure how she'd be if she were stuck here without any company. It was nice, at least, to be able to _talk_ to someone. If in six-second intervals. Who knew you could get a rather decent education in temporal theory and pocket dimensional physics in six-second snips over twenty years? Doctor Lloyd was a genius when it came to the subject. Too bad he wasn't an actual Tinker.

Sarah turned.

She often tried to forget that day, even when she knew she couldn't. She had been celebrating her 21st birthday, gone to the mall for a shopping spree, was making her way from one store to another, when suddenly she'd heard a noise behind her. She'd turned, and seen someone appear in the mall behind her. It looked like a young schoolboy (if the uniform was any indication, anyway) that had stepped out of a black and white film. A very old, tattered black and white film by the way he seemed to stutter in place. He looked right at her with deadened gray eyes, and suddenly she was surrounded by some sort of gray haze. She'd tried to run, but found she couldn't move out of the field of gray surrounding her. Then suddenly, she was back in the position she'd been in only moments ago, turning to stare at the gray boy who even now was turning to leave the mall. The rest of the the crowd had noticed what was occurring and started panicking. All around her the masses began to turn and run, mindless in their fear, only knowing to flee the thing that came into their midst. She tried to follow them, tried to call for help at least, but her voice was drowned out in the roar of the crowd.

Sarah turned.

It had been hours later, after the mall had been evacuated that anyone came back and found her. It was quickly determined that she couldn't leave the confines of the gray, nor could anything enter in from outside. Her parents had been contacted, been given the atrocious news, and work had begun in earnest to try and find a way to break her free of her prison. A charity fund had even been created in her name to provide funds for the scientists working on the matter (it was things like that that helped her keep faith in humanity). In time, she learned that Gray Boy as he was called had imprisoned others like her, even torturing some of them under the instruction of his new mass murdering masters. She felt like weeping in joy when she'd heard the Fairy Queen had torn the monster's head off a few years back.

Sarah turned.

Her parents had come to see her as often as they could, letting her know how the world was progressing outside her bubble. The first time she found herself glad to be trapped in an unbreakable time loop was when she heard of the first Endbringer, with a second and third following thereafter. The idea of unstoppable giant monsters tearing through major cities had made her plight seem rather small in comparison.

Sarah turned.

It was around 2006 that her mother died, succumbing to cancer after a year long battle. In February of the current year, her father had gotten caught in the crossfire of a cape fight with members of The Fallen while on a trip to Texas. And just like that, her only remaining relatives were gone, and she was left alone. Just the scientists continuing to work out this unsolvable problem she called her life.

 _Well,_ she thought sarcastically, _at least I get to stay young and beautiful forever._

Sarah turned.

Word from the outside had slowed considerably in the last few months, only coming whenever one of the scientists thought to share some new development in the cape scene. That said, the last few months had been eventful, especially at the coasts. The Simurgh dying, a floating castle appearing over the Atlantic, the Slaughterhouse Nine finally dying, and through it all a red woman capable of turning into a dragon was involved. She could hardly believe half of what she'd heard in recent months, but given her circumstances, she was open to most ideas at this point.

Even though she claimed to be a goddess from another world. It sounded insane, but considering? Why not? What else would you call yourself, if you had power like that? Especially if, as she claimed, she came from a world that was severely behind technologically.

And then that same red woman came to visit _her._ To try and help Sarah. It seemed important to her, for some reason, beyond simply doing a good deed. But still... the moment of hope, so small, was still painful for it to be crushed again. It barely registered, but it was still another stab.

True, Sarah was the first of many victims. There were dozens of police officers suffering the same fate, because of King's twisted sense of humor. Not that any of the Nine, through their entire too-long history, had a good sense of humor.

But it was still discouraging. Even a young woman who claimed to be a goddess couldn't break the prison of time laid by the dead Slaughterhouse Nine member.

Doctor Lloyd stood in front of her. He gave her a gentle, but discouraged smile, his voice distorted somewhat as it reached her through the bubble surrounding her. _"We still have options, Sarah. There's still a chance. I think we need to find a proper space-warping ability, or perhaps commission the right space-warping Tinkertech. We got some interesting data, and I think with the right combination..."_

Sarah turned, then sighed. "I've been hearing that for twenty years, doc. I'm a bit tired of it. It's just.." She shrugged helplessly. Then turned, equally helplessly. Trying to stop the turn would have her fall and break her nose on the floor. Thankfully, _that_ didn't repeat itself.

Lloyd shook his head. _"I know, dear. I know. I'm sorry."_ He ran his fingers through his hair. _"I've tried everything I can. There's always some damned thing. It's like this power was designed to screw with any attempt at freeing the victim. I..."_ His shoulders slumped. _"Damn it. I went into this thinking I'd crack it. Maybe a year. Maybe five, it'd be worth it. Ten years on this and I haven't even gotten a Tinker power to help."_

Sarah turned. "Not as if you haven't tried."

Lloyd closed his eyes. _"Feel like I haven't done..."_ He stopped. Just stopped mid-sentence.

Sarah turned. . . and blinked in surprise.

It wasn't just Lloyd. The equipment in the room had fallen silent. The scientists in the room and all the equipment with them were suddenly stock still, as if frozen in time. Just behind Lloyd, walking about and examining the people, the instruments, and Sarah herself was a new figure. Short, fat, and shaped from pure black with only stars of pure white where eyes should be, he had just appeared in the room, and was now staring straight at her.

Before she could even process what she was seeing, the figure(man?) was suddenly right in front of her, his hand on the exterior of the gray. She recoiled from shock, before noticing something. The gray seemed to be fluctuating where he touched it, like it had been moving previously but was being paused now. As the effect spread over the bubble, she felt like a weight had been removed from her whole body. Add to it that she should have reset by now, and she realized this ... person before her was stopping the loop.

"Greetings," the figure said.

"Who ... _what_ are you?" she asked, still bewildered by what was occurring.

"I am Chronos, Lord of Time." A slight, echoing chuckle escaped him. "I am a god, though it has been quite a long time since I strove to do more than watch and record the flow of time. I sense this is not your first encounter with one, the Lady of Darkness was here." His voice turned pensive, considering. "Apologies for not arriving sooner, it was only recently that I recovered enough strength to accomplish this." With a shift in that inhuman face, he looked up and down the bubble of time. His voice was soft. "A small fragment of my power was used to create your prison. Not much, far more of it was made by the Abomination's own power, but just enough to give me some understanding. And enough for me to reclaim a small amount of that which is mine."

"Accomplish ... what? Freeing me? Why? And what happened to Lloyd?" she questioned, trying to understand why this creature, this self-proclaimed deity had shown up now to her gray prison.

"Worry not, he is merely paused for the moment. As for you," he said, "I have come to give you freedom...and, should you accept it, an offer."

"...What kind of offer?"

"I will be frank. A creature, similar to the one that entrapped me and those like me, currently hides on this world you call home. I, the one who freed me, and the ones they work with seek to raise an army to fight this scourge when it arrives. And on a personal note, I need followers to add to my power for when the time comes. I offer you a choice, Sarah Kissinger. I can simply free you from this perversion of time that you find yourself in, and allow you to leave here, free to continue your normal life in peace. Or, you may join me, as my vassal."

"Your vassal?"

"Yes. You will be granted a portion of my powers over time. That which has imprisoned you will now be yours to command. I warn you, there is no guarantee that you shall survive the trials ahead, or even that we shall succeed against the creature that we fight against. But you will have the chance to work for a cause greater than yourself, a chance to prevent the annihilation of your race and homeworld. The choice is yours."

Sarah tried to process the offer that this being had presented to her. She was tempted to just go with the freedom and leave, but...

What would her parents think? They would've been happy having their daughter back of course, but could she really have looked them in the eyes, knowing that she could have helped prevent _the end of the world_ , and refused the call? Could she live with _herself_ , knowing that she had refused to even try to stand against what was coming? No, she didn't thing she could.

She looked Chronos in the star-eyes.

"Get me out of this prison, and I'm all yours," she said.

His eyes seemed to glow brighter, when suddenly the gray field around her started to dissolve. In seconds, the haze that had held her for so long was gone.

Color. Wonderful, beautiful, amazing, simple, joyous, _color._ Sarah would never take it for granted again.

She fell to her knees, tears of joy falling freely at the sense of relief she felt. She looked up at the thing that had released her from that torment.

"Before we go...wherever you're heading, do you think we can...stop by the local cemetery? I... wanna say hi to my folks before we go." She looked on the frozen face of Doctor Lloyd, a small chuckle escaping her. "And I'll want to visit this old coot, later."

"Of course." Chronos said with amusement, holding a hand out. She grabbed it, felt a surge of power flow through her (though still only a trickle, she knew, compared to the amount her rescuer possessed), and then they disappeared in a flash of white.

* * *

"...enough to do much of anything. I've failed you, my dear, and..." Doctor Lloyd blinked. Blinked again. Yes, there was an empty space in front of him, where Sarah had been a moment before. The bubble of warped time, the prison that had trapped Sarah Kissinger for twenty years was gone, along with its inhabitant. One instant, there, the next, gone.

He straightened up. Half a second of thinking, sharing a shocked look with his colleagues, he whirled on his assistant, pointing a finger imperiously. "Michael! Check the camera feeds! Now!"

They would discover nothing. Only a gap of two minutes, in which the camera recorded nothing, despite the system on the other end of the building checking out perfectly. It wouldn't be until tomorrow that the news would be released. By then, similar reports would be arriving from other sites of Gray Boy victims.

* * *

The Sun was immense.

Certainly, people _knew_ that. If someone took the time to look it up, they would know that. Most people didn't really think about it, because it was so distant. It was just there. Few people ever imagined just how large, how bright the Earth's star really was. Human imagination was so very flexible, capable of dreaming up the fantastic, but it simply wasn't equipped to deal with its limitations. At least, not without significant effort and practice.

Dragon, on the other hand, had few such limitations. Data was much more easily refined into knowledge, and knowledge into imagination. The Sun was one million, three hundred ninety-one thousand kilometres across. Her sensors easily picked that up, and it interfaced with her newfound power in a way that wasn't quite describable to human senses. She could detect the waves of infrared light, visible light, the x-rays given off by the absurdly hot corona. Here, within Mercury's orbit, all that knowledge and _feeling_ was almost enough to make her forget her mission.

She adjusted the simple gate, formed on the same principles as the Shadow Gates. Unlike the Shadow Gates, however, it was not designed for human travel. It would gather sunlight, intense enough to vaporize a person, and channel it into the Light Plane, where it would diffuse somewhat, but more than enough would be collected on solar panels and other methods of turning heat into energy. The gate itself had a few simple programs and ion engines, charged with electricity, designed to keep it in orbit of the Sun.

Best of all, all that energy would not fail. While solar activity ebbed and peaked, it did not ever simply _stop._ Nor would it be interrupted by a simple passing cloud. One of the advantages of building in space.

The nifty data coming from the solar wind didn't hurt either. Plus it was material that, with time and patience, could be made into things. The solar wind wasn't exactly thick, but it was plentiful and it would otherwise just be thrown into space uselessly anyway.

The Shadow Gates wouldn't be useful for this. Their portals were very useful, indeed, but they failed in one respect. They absorbed light, but it never arrived in the Shadow Plane. A few tests had shown that. The heat would pass, but not the light. That would be useful for other things, but it would make things a fair bit more difficult if they hadn't figured out other options.

She opened her comm channel. "Tranquillity Base, collectors are online."

Normally, it would take nearly seven minutes for a radio wave to reach the Earth's orbit, and another seven for the reply to reach Dragon's current location in solar orbit. That was assuming that the signal didn't get lost in the Sun's interference. Thankfully, a very small Shadow Gate was attached to the rear side of the collector. While light could not pass through, electrical signals could. Magic and technology working together was _weird_ , but there was no arguing with the results. The radio on the back took Dragon's signal, translated it to electric data, transmitted by wire, passed it through the gate, passed through the gates in the Shadow Plane, and translated it for the computers at the other end.

Transmission to reply time: 0.0024 seconds. Under ideal circumstances, that is. Humans just didn't tend to think that fast.

Suck it, Relativity.

" _We read you, Dragon. Thank you for the assistance," a_ faintly British voice echoed. _"The excavator is online and running smoothly. We should have enough room to set up shop in three days at this rate."_

One of the hazards of space colonies was radiation. Another was living space. Both issues were mitigated by building underground colonies, at least to begin with. Given time, surface colonies would be built. Perhaps enough to change the face of the Moon.

Still, that would take quite a while. Hopefully, they would have the time.

"Glad to hear it, Tranquillity Base. Dragon out."

She had to get back on the task at hand.

Four hundred more solar harvesting stations weren't going to place themselves, after all.

* * *

Africa was a hellhole.

Even before the advent of parahumans, it hadn't been the nicest continent. During the age of colonialism, when the British Empire spread over much of the world, the diseases that lived in her jungles made it known as White Man's Grave. Even with the areas that weren't disease infested-jungle, it was simply difficult to build a proper English port. It had rarely been worth the effort.

The appearance of parahumans, however, made things much, much worse. It used to be a warlord would be whomever had the largest collection of men and guns to arm them. Now a warlord could appear anywhere, anytime, from any of the people who went through just one bad day.

Moord Nag was one of the most powerful. She was once just a girl, living a simple, but harsh life in her village. That girl's life came to an abrupt end as her family was slaughtered. As the men, serving a warlord, took the girls for themselves as prizes.

Then the spirits gave her a gift in exchange for her pain. Her violation. Aasdier. Her spirit, her companion, her vengeance. Her only true friend. Aasdier fed upon the human dead, but grew in size and strength only with the sacrifice of the living. Once, Aasdier could have fit within the palm of her hand.

Now, Aasdier was a great, dark snake that stretched thirty feet behind his head. He was large enough to ride, large enough to be Moord Nag's herald of death, and it made things simple enough for her to claim her territory. In exchange for lives, the sick, the weak, the dying, or merely those for whom drew the bloody lots, they would die for Aasdier. Die for their protector. Die for their families. Die so that others might live.

After having taken so many lives, few things could stand up to Moord Nag. Few crossed the warlord of Namibia. Despite the blood on her hands, she was better than most.

And thus it was odd for a man to approach her camp, walking over the nearest sand dune as if he had no care in the world. Those who were not her followers were not welcome, all knew that. Still, it was plain to see he had been touched by the spirits, having been given a gift. His skin was white, as if he was covered in ashes. His hair was long, flowing, and seemed to be made of flame. He wore leather armor, fastened by red chains, and his pauldrons were decorated with snarling lions.

Aasdier, always loyal, crested over the dune and slammed into the man. Or rather, slammed into the dune itself, as the man had snapped out of existence and appeared some distance away, a smirk on his lips.

Aasdier lunged again, and the man vanished and reappeared. From nothing, he drew a sword made of flame. Instead of lashing out at the massive form of Aasdier, he drove it into the ground.

The ground shook, and opened into a chasm, the ground falling beneath the pair and revealing a cave system beneath. Aasdier fell into it, screaming, struggling to get back up again. Moord Nag took a step back as the man turned toward her, a grin on his face as his flaming hair drifted behind him. He spoke, though he was distant enough to be inaudible, she heard him, easily.

"Your beast is impressive, my dear. While I would enjoy battling it, I am not here for that. I wish to parley."

Aasdier clambered his way back to the surface, howling in rage. Moord Nag stepped upon his back, letting her companion haul her into the air. Aasdier's white skull was snarling, eager to rend this upstart apart.

But Moord Nag was the mistress. Aasdier was her spirit, and not the other way around.

With a delighted smile, the man took a step into the air. Then another, and another, as if he were ascending an invisible hill, until he was level with her. Flame danced upon his hands, resolving into a pair of glowing broadswords, engraved with intricate designs, and he held them out for her, hilt-first.

With slightly-too sharp teeth, he grinned. "I am Lorkhan. I am the Lord of War. I offer a gift to you, great warlord of Namibia, freely. I ask only that you hear me out."

Moord Nag tilted her head. She grasped the hilt of one blade, and held it up to the light of the sun. Even with a lack of expertise in ancient weapons, she could tell there was something otherworldly about the blade. Something strong, something powerful. It had a thirst for blood and death that rivalled Aasdier's own.

She looked at the man with hair made of flame. "I am listening."

* * *

Out in the French mountains, near Grand Veymont, a young woman ran for her life.

To casual passerby (if there had been any in the isolated forest), one might have seen this raven-haired British tourist, dressed casually in a white tank top, tan shorts, and sturdy-yet-fashionable combat boots and thought that she had merely decided to jog through the woods for the sake of exercise. The truth would be clear, however, if they saw the terror in her bright blue eyes, which currently stood out sharply on her paler-than-usual face. A few yards behind her, men chased her with murderous intent.

Alexis had only come to France to clear her head (and because the only other option she'd had at the time had been Switzerland, which was isolated due to the Simurgh's first attack and thus been entirely impossible to get near, as the isolation was enforced with bullets). Her boyfriend had been caught in the collateral damage of an attack by the Three Blasphemies and she'd been having trouble moving on from the event. After fighting off (to some degree at least) the prospect of suicide to escape her grief, she'd decided to take a trip abroad to enjoy the sights and clear her head.

In hindsight, she should have just gone to Norway instead. She could have just visited her cousin Lisette. And not bothered with hiking because this was _so fucking stupid._

She had gone backpacking up one of the less visited mountains in the region, and had gotten the _genius_ idea of leaving the beaten path and exploring the woods away from anyone else who might have been around. She had been wandering the woods, enjoying the feel of the fresh (and, thankfully, warm) air on her bare arms and legs, listening to the sound of leaves crunching under her boots, and just let herself go with the flow. Eventually, as the sky grew a bit overcast, she'd stopped to take off her backpack and rest a minute before heading back to civilization when she heard something. Through the persistent calls of the oddly plentiful crows in the forest (or were they ravens? or both?), she heard what sounded like people talking/arguing. Curious, she followed the sounds (leaving her backpack behind, _brilliant_ ) until she found a group of men.

There were five of them, plus a sixth man on the ground, having been beaten to within an inch of his life. The rest of the men, obviously criminals of some sort, were arguing with each other and waving knives around, apparently trying to settle some matter concerning the beaten man (she didn't speak much Swiss, and they were speaking too quickly to make out very well). Eventually, one bald man with a cigarette in his mouth just raised what looked like a sickle and slammed it into the beaten man's head, killing him. A shocked gasp rang out, one Alexis only recognized came from her _after_ the men all turned and looked at her.

For her part, Alexis processed the state of things rather well: these men knew she'd seen them kill someone, and clearly weren't planning on letting her just leave to share the news with anyone. She also caught the look on a couple of their faces as they noticed the rest of her body. She didn't bother trying to speak.

She ran.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her (which was considerably fast; she made a point of regular exercise), the men no more than 10 yards behind her. She didn't bother to look back at them or really think about where exactly she was going, only focusing on not tripping over anything or running into a tree. Eventually, she reached a point where they were just barely far away enough to be out of her sight. Unfortunately, after turning back to watch where she was going, she realized something important:

She had cleared the tree-line and was going _very_ fast towards the edge of a cliff.

Desperately trying to slow herself down, she just managed to stop herself from running off the cliff. However, she was now left precariously balanced on the ledge, feet half in the open air. As she struggled to maintain balance, she heard her pursuers shouting. Turning back fearfully, she saw them approaching the tree-line. She realized her chances of getting away from the ledge before one of them reached her and just shoved her off himself was-

She heard a crack.

The rocky ledge under her feet broke.

Her balance was lost.

With a scream, she fell. Bones broke upon impact with the next ledge, thirty feet below.

* * *

Darkness. Pain.

Alexis could taste blood. Her blood. Consciousness ebbed and flowed, and she could feel herself struggling to keep awake, lethargy threatening to steal away her mind forever.

She didn't want to die.

Crows gathered around her broken body. Cawing. Watching. Intelligence in those beady eyes.

They were going to eat her. They were going to wait until she died, and then feast on her broken body. Her bones would get washed away in the next rainfall, fall all over the valley below. Then the snow would fall in the coming months, cover her bones, and nobody would miss her.

Alexis cried.

A soft voice reached her, like a whisper on the wind. _"Such pain. Such suffering. Do the little ones scare you, child?"_

Fear broiled in Alexis' heart, her eyes widening as a new figure formed at her side. Wraithlike, ghostly, and only partially human. The very top of the figure was a beautiful woman, who smiled kindly. But below the nudity, where the woman's stomach should have been, were three more heads. A white wolf's head, staring at her with curious interest. A brown snarling bear, growling in disdain. A golden lion, looking somehow bored, aloof. And worse, beneath that, a body of writhing snakes, each of them supporting the monstrous being, while their cold reptilian heads focused on her intently.

Alexis choked. Words weren't possible with her own ribs puncturing her lungs.

Death was something she'd hoped would be something far-off in the future. She imagined, perhaps naively in a world with disasters, Endbringers, and unsteady governments, that she might die an old woman with children. Not here, not now. Not out here in the middle of fucking France while a monstrous cape taunted her.

The apparition chuckled, a black orb appearing in her hand as she approached Alexis' broken body. _"It seems appropriate that I give you this. I can change you. I can save your life. You can learn to love again. To live again. Or you can give this power to another, when you awaken again, though that might mean your end. It is sure it is doing no good now, in my hands. Perhaps it will in yours."_

Alexis could only whimper as the ghostly figure placed the orb upon her chest. And then struggle to scream as it began to _burn._

* * *

In the time before the Wanderer's arrival in Castlevania's world, the deities had been in a slump. Solin's mad quest for more power and followers had left the other deities with nothing, all but hiding on the dregs of their world with only their own planes to satisfy them. Even the renewed war Dracul had started against the current Lord of Light had not offered them much in the way of gaining new followers.

For Scylla, she had taken to collecting as a way to entertain herself. Specifically, she would collect the powers of particularly interesting mortals on society's metaphorical outskirts. Two in particular had been of great interest to her: the ancient witch Baba Yaga, and her long standing rival, Malphas the Crow Witch. The two had lived for centuries longer than mortals naturally could, fueled by their hatred towards each other (and the lives of whatever poor fools had crossed their paths). In the end, a noble warrior named Victor Belmont, one of the few of his family to live while Dracul rested (and the last to live a full life before the Abomination's arrival), had hunted down and slain the two witches, along with the forces at their command (even a member of an ancient breed of giant ogre, impressively enough). Scylla had seen fit to collect the essences of the witches.

They were in her possession when she was captured. As she had reached out to try and escape she had caught hold of the essences of the two rivals before being subsumed. The energies of the witches were thus ensnared with her. When the Wanderer had left with the imprisoned deities, the power of the witches left as well.

When Dracul fired the weapon within the Wanderer, the connection holding the witches to Scylla had been loosened. When the Thinker Entity crashed to Earth, one of the orbs containing their power had been dislodged from their hold, and sent flying through the dimensions of Earth away from its owner. The black orb of energy containing the remaining nature and power of the crow witch had remained in Scylla's grasp, trapped and helpless, useless as long as its owner was enslaved.

Then the parahumans David and Noelle freed Scylla from her prison. It gave the newly-freed goddess an opportunity to act. And it was so much easier to pass along an inherited power than to craft one from the ground up.

* * *

Pain greeted Alexis when she woke up once more.

As the ability to actually see properly returned to her, she took in her current surroundings. She was on a ledge just wide enough to hold her, with a little extra between her and the edge. She had landed on her right side and, as far as she could tell, had fallen quite a ways from the top of the cliff.

The next thing she took note of was the blood pooling out from her.

The ribs on her right side were shattered, with at least one sticking out through the side of her rapidly-reddening tank top. Her right knee was now a mess of shattered bone, flowing blood and destroyed muscles. Her hip similarly felt shattered, the blood discoloring that side of her shorts confirming it. Unsurprisingly, she couldn't move her right leg at all, further pain being the only result she got of even trying. Her left leg felt numb, but she could at least (barely) move the toe of her boot, which she took as good news. As for her arms, she could move the left one(currently lying in front of her face) to a degree, but the right one was splayed flat on the rock before her, more blood and shredded meat surrounding it. She felt warm speckles of blood across her face, some slowly slipping down to the numb remains of the right side of her face and her shattered cheek bone.

A few tears started to join the bloody mix. Had she imagined the apparition? A false hope thought up in the insanity of a dying brain?

Then she heard a caw.

She glanced down back to her legs. A crow was currently perched on her right boot, pecking at the laces. As if realizing it was being watched, it looked up and met her gaze. Its shiny black eyes met her teary blue ones for a moment. Then it hopped up to her shin. Then over to her left knee, avoiding the shattered right one in an almost careful manner. Then onto her (apparently still intact) left hip, before finally jumping to the ground in front of her. It was then she noticed two things: that the crow seemed to have a whitish patch of feathers over its head around the eyes, and it seemed to be acting carefully, with unnatural intelligence.

With difficulty, she moved her left hand to rest closer to the crow. The blood felt warm and sticky against her skin. Warmer than she expected. The crow hopped up to her hand, looking at it for a moment, before leaning in close and lightly nuzzling it with the tip of its beak. She oddly found herself lightly smiling from the display.

Another crow landed, this time on her damaged arm. A third landed, once again on her leg. A fourth bird, this one a raven, landed on her shoulder. She could see still more birds flying around the ledge in a tight circular pattern. From what she could tell, they all had similar patches over their heads as the first one.

The first crow hopped back over to her destroyed knee. It quickly plucked up an piece of meat(probably a piece of muscle) from the ground, the piece of flesh becoming coated with... something. Black liquid seemed to flow from the crow's beak and covered the flesh. The crow gently set the meat on her knee. When it let go, the substance sprung out black tendrils, which quickly wrapped themselves around the nearest sections of knee. It didn't hurt; in fact it felt surprisingly good.

She felt more light taps as substance started prodding at the wounds, at the meat, at her.

She saw the crows and ravens flying closer, more starting to land on and around her.

She felt herself grow stronger, her body pull itself back together.

As she was enveloped by her new feathery … friends, she felt herself smile.

* * *

The killers continued pursuit towards the cliff face, ignoring the collection of crows and ravens clustered in the trees, around the ground, and in the air. They had to be sure that the interloping woman was dead. So intent was their focus on their current target they failed to notice the crows gathering from the forest. Just a few at a time, one after another.

If they had looked up to see them watching the humans so intently, they might have realized something was not quite right.

They stopped before the ledge they had seen her fall over. After some deliberation and further bouts of ignoring the birds and their constant cawing, their leader (the man with the sickle) leaned over the side. He found his vision blocked by a mass of birds, flying to and fro along the cliff face. Had they already gotten to work on her corpse?

Suddenly, the birds simultaneously flew up over the ledge in front of the men. They backed up from the display, as the birds started circling around in the sky. A larger shape flew up over the ledge, and lightly touched down in front of them.

It was the woman. Only she looked much different from the frightened individual they'd been chasing just a few minutes ago.

Her black boots now extended up to her knees, and black leggings wrapped around her legs. Her black shorts were adorned with a black leather belt, topped by a silver buckle in the shape of a crows skull. Her now black tank top was now covered with an open black vest, a white crow head with a ruby-red eye over the left breast. Black elbow-length velvet gloves covered her hands. Rounding the ensemble out was a black, feathery overcoat that reached down to her ankles. Her long smooth hair seemed unchanged, though it draped down the back of her head and shoulders like a hood, or maybe like the feathers on the back of a bird's head. Her face was even paler than it had previously been, save only for the raven black lipstick adorning her lips, and her eyes.

Her bright, pale, purple eyes.

With a flick of her wrist, the birds suddenly swarmed the men. Their attempts to ward the winged attackers were futile, and they quickly found themselves being knocked to the ground and devoured by the pecking swarms.

All except their leader. He was left untouched, paralyzed with fear, as the woman stepped up to him. She gave him a once-over, like he'd given her before, then gently put a hand on his face.

He screamed.

His body twisted, becoming thin and fleshy. His skin took on a bruised purple coloration, and he felt his abdomen collapse into itself. His clothes burned away as his arms wrenched back, the fingers elongating and sharpening, the ring and pinkie fingers fusing together. Feathers popped out of his arms and the back of his head, and his feet widened and grew sharp claws on the toes. The eyes darkened to black, all emotion draining from them. Finally, his face elongated, the skull becoming visible and more birdlike, the tip blackening like a beak. An inner fire ignited, setting the torso to glow from the inner flames. The hand was finally removed, and the bird/man stepped back, bowing to its master.

The woman … Alexis, yes she still thought herself Alexis, but still far more than what she'd been when she first found these men - she was pleased by the creature's development. But she still felt more could be done. She looked down at the sickle dropped by the man before his transformation. She also noted that one other man had already had his skull picked clean by her friends.

Picking up both sickle and skull, she made her way to the tree-line to one particularly small tree in particular. She rested the skull on one branch, and the sickle on the other. A moment later, the tree began to shift. The branches twisted and warped, the whole tree taking on a more humanoid shape. In a minute's time, a wooden figure stood. It was skeletal in nature, with thin legs crafted of interlocking wooden pieces that tapered down to a point. Its torso was like a wooden ribcage, fire dancing inside it. The skull served as the head, more fire burning at the eyes. More interlocking branches made up the upper arms and connections to the forearms, while the forearms themselves consisted only of long branches extending almost the entirety of the creature's height, the back ends ending at points. In the place of hands, _two_ sickles lay, held to the 'arms' by thick vines. All in all, it looked like some manner of tall murderous scarecrow.

She smiled. Yes, these were definitely a start to things.

The new Crow Witch gathered her friends. If she'd stopped, and listened, she just might have heard the faintest sound of laughter from the newly freed goddess of Beasts.


	89. Interlude: Preparations part 3

A/N: Damn, this has taken a long time. Damn damn damn. Stupid real life.

I'm not entirely happy with this one, either. But, it has been a long time since I updated, and if I keep polishing I'm going to be on it forever. So here goes.

* * *

"Whenever you're ready, Quartermaster."

Danny just sighed, shaking his head ruefully as he scratched his cheek underneath the domino mask. "Couldn't come up with something better on short notice, hm?"

Miss Militia chuckled. "You're the one who decided going out with the rest of us was pretty pointless." She pushed the door open, and gestured. "After you."

Danny stepped inside, pausing as he saw the other two figures in the simple Rig quarters. Neptune and Salacia.

The pair looked up, the water-constructs clad in the suits that made them look presentable. Neptune bowed his head to Danny, then his artificial lips turned into a smile as he looked at Hannah, gesturing quickly.

Hannah nodded back. "Neptune's glad to see you."

Danny smiled wryly. "I'm glad to be here, too. This is so damn weird, though."

Salacia looked back and forth, appearing somewhat uncertain. She made a few gestures, but they were slow, hesitant, as if she had some trouble flexing her fingers. She opened her lips, allowing Danny to see the water flowing within her suit, but all that came out were burbles.

Neptune shot her a look, but if anything, the older projection seemed somewhat amused.

Hannah laughed softly. At the looks she was getting, she shrugged. "Sorry. Took a while for Neptune to stop trying to talk. That's why we got him the phone and text-to-speech app. It was just too difficult to wire up some kind of Tinkertech workaround, apparently."

Danny couldn't help but smile at that. "Tinkertech can't solve everything, I suppose. Just _almost_ everything." With a shake of the head, he sucked in a deep breath, looking at Neptune. "Look, I'm not sure how this works. Do you have to do what I say?"

A momentary pause, then Neptune nodded, almost hesitantly.

Danny rubbed his forehead, and sighed. Then he looked at Salacia, a bit of pain in his voice. "And you, too?"

Her nod was a lot less hesitant. She tried to make some gestures, slow and uncertain. Hannah spoke after watching for a moment. "She wants to try new things. She also doesn't want to leave here."

Danny wasn't surprised. He sucked in a breath before he spoke. "Alright. I don't like this, at all. I had no idea I was responsible for either of you, though I'm glad it happened." His voice thickening, he looked at Neptune. "I never did thank you for saving my life. At the time I was... I was in a very bad place. I thought my daughter was gone forever. By all rights she should be. I was angry at you...well, I was angry at the whole damn world. But you didn't deserve that. I'm sorry."

Neptune nodded slowly.

He clenched his hands, visibly steeling himself. "You've got minds of your own. I won't order you to be my slaves. I'm going to _ask_ you. Do you like working here?"

Neptune made some gestures. Hannah's voice chimed in. "Neptune's made friends here. He was mine since he joined up. He liked working with the fire department."

With a slight smile, Danny nodded. "I'm going to ask you something. You _both_ something. I can't do it myself. Help people. Help protect my daughter. She might not need it, but help her, if you can. Please."

The two projections looked at each other. Then slowly, they both looked at Danny and nodded.

* * *

"Alright Mark, what do we got?"

Mark shrugged, stroking his chin. "Dunno. We need something new. We've done GTA." He winced as a wire on his latest device sparked. "Ah, crap. Need to fix that lead."

Luke rolled his eyes. "And we got about half a million dislikes for that video."

Mark looked up, fixing his partner with a stare. "Told you going around beating up hookers was a bad idea. It's one thing in a game, but in real life? I thought we were going to get choked through the damn internet."

Luke shook his head. "Well, live and learn, dude. We can try Halo?"

Mark licked his lip, considering. "I'll need to salvage the personal shield. It's still working, but it took a beating last run. I'm not sure about the power armor, though. Might have to program that through the holo-projector. It's too similar to the Mark One armor I tried to make way back." He got to his feet, taking a moment to wipe his fingers on his pants, leaving black smudges.

Luke shrugged, taking a cold slice of pizza out of the fridge. "Still say we could try something around that new portal to Velnar. Think Scarlet would like us? I can think of a ton of medieval style games we could do around there. It'd even be authentic!"

Mark laughed softly. "Yeah, right, let's try and pull something on the girl who can turn into a dragon. We can try playing _Knighthood_ against her, but I don't wanna risk being one of the early npc knights who get eaten with a side order of ketchup." He walked into the next room, freezing at the sight before him. "Uh, Luke?"

Luke recognized that tone of voice, walking over and peering over his shorter partner's shoulder. "Where the hell did the holo-projector go? Nobody got in here!" He nervously looked over at the front door of their converted warehouse. "At least...fuck. Teleporters."

Mark groaned. "Great. That means we gotta move. We just got settled in here." He paused, paling as another thought occurred to him. "Shit!"

"What?"

Mark whined. "I just downloaded the new X-Com onto that projector! It's going to take ages to get another digital copy!"

Luke blinked. "You're worried about that? I'm worried about the fact you can't make another holo-projector."

" _And I can't make another holo-projector!"_

* * *

Contessa set the box down. Considering how valuable and versatile it was, it was rather surprising Leet could manage to make it fit within a suitcase. She looked at the immobile screen that was her interface with Pandora.

The screen flickered, and the AI 'looked' at the device. "Huh. That looks familiar. Leet tech? You sure it won't explode?"

Contessa's lip twitched with repressed amusement. "This happens to be one of his more reliable inventions. He used it for over six months without it exploding. It could be useful for pulling attention off our people when the battle comes."

Pandora's image nodded slightly. "It might." A small construction drone, about the size of a basketball, unfurled and started scanning the holo-projector. "This could be useful...hrm. And oh."

Contessa lifted an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

Pandora chuckled, the sound very realistic considering it was coming from a sophisticated program. "No. There's just a large gaming library in here too. I think he's going to be very, very upset if he didn't manage to make backups."

Contessa paused. Then, slowly, she spoke. "They were using a piece of advanced Tinkertech for crimes _and_ as a gaming platform?"

Pandora sighed with exasperation. "Well, it _is_ Leet. Least I'll have some entertainment while I'm here."

* * *

"Sophia, where the hell are you going at this hour?"

Sophia stiffened. With a snarl, she turned and spat at the ground. "Out."

Her mother crossed her arms, looking exhausted. "Like hell. It's dangerous out there! Don't you remember what happened to Steven?"

Sophia flinched. She clenched her hands, using every bit of her self-control to not lash out right then and there. Instead, she stored the anger. "I don't give a shit. I'm going out."

A wailing cry emerged from inside the house. Sophia's mother turned, filled with exasperation. "And you've woken up your little sister."

Sophia shrugged, turning and walking away. "Like I care."

"Sophia! Sophia! Get back here!"

She broke into a run. She had to get in some _action_ tonight. Sophia Hess didn't need this shit.

* * *

Beneath the hockey mask, Sophia smiled.

It was a _perfect_ night out in Brockton Bay. The weather was warm, just slightly humid, allowing it to trap the day's warmth. But it wasn't so warm that it was oppressive or tiring. It was an ideal night, and she was going to have some _fun_ before it was over.

A night like this was perfect. Even in a shithole like Brockton Bay, there were always people out and about. Not just the criminals. But the idiots. The normal people who always had some kind of 'pressing business' and thus went out and made themselves easy targets. Stupid sheep that decide that the need for a candy bar at two in the morning was worth risking their lives.

The moon was full. It helped slightly when she peered over the edge of rooftops, trying to pick up movement in the alleyways. She'd learned, quite early on, that at night, it was far easier for her eyes to pick up on movement than detail. It was the easiest way to find out if someone was lurking wherever her attention was.

It was pretty rare for someone to actually _lurk_ in an alley, though. Muggers and rapists often prowled and moved, and rarely sat and waited for prey. Well, the latter was usually an acquaintance. Even in Brockton, it was fairly rare for a woman to be pulled off into the bushes to be raped. You find more rapists at parties and boardrooms than you do the streets.

She moved to go on the hunt.

* * *

"I don't need your fuckin' help." Sophia growled.

Glory Girl hovered there above the vigilante, her prissy-white, shining costume perfect, the white cape flapping behind her in the wind. Both of those pretty, blue, perfect eyes focused on the dirtied vigilante on the ground, as if she was _literally_ looking down her nose at Sophia. Fuck, the cheerleader's fucking _teeth_ gleamed as she spoke. "You know it's dangerous out here solo. If you're caught without backup, the gangs can bring you under their heel or just kill you."

Sophia clenched her teeth. She _hated_ New Wave. They had no idea what it was like. They had power along the lines of winning the goddamn jackpot while _she_ had the equivalent of a hundred-dollar scratch ticket. New Wave was photogenic, pretty. New Wave had their youngest member trigger as the world's _greatest fucking healer._ They were upper-middle class. They were white in a city full of goddamn Nazis. They never wanted for anything. Hell, Glory Girl triggered in a _basketball game._ The vain, shallow, _bitch._

 _I bet she never had a bad day in her life, including her fucking trigger.  
_  
While Sophia had to scratch and scrabble for everything. She went through hell to get her powers. She survived and thrived on the dregs. She got the money for her supplies from the gang members she hunted, not handed to her on a silver platter. Not that the Alexandria package of Glory Girl would _need_ anything.

"I don't need the pitch." Sophia snarled. "I'm better off on my own."

Glory Girl sighed. "Alright. Won't stop you. But if you need a hand, you've got options. You don't have to be alone."

Sophia turned on her heel and stalked away. She didn't need the moralizing from someone who thought herself so high and mighty. Glory Girl wasn't a predator. She'd be eaten alive in the concrete jungle, if she hadn't lucked out on the best powers ever. She'd be happy if she found someone who could go through hell and _not_ break. Someone who would _fight back_ when facing life and death. Not a goddamn cheerleader who had everything handed to her like a tame dog.

* * *

Three beaten ABB members later, Sophia was beginning to calm down. The run-in with Glory Girl had annoyed her, but the pleasure of the _fight_ brought her mood right back up.

 _Just one more block._ She promised herself. _Bed is sounding very nice right now._

A whimpering cry managed to reach her, just faintly on the wind. A desperate plea for help, muffled by distance and obstruction.

Sophia grinned. _Action._

She jumped over the edge of the roof, turning into her shadow-state to make the leap to the next one. It was at the next alley she found the sight. Four men, skinheads, surrounding a black woman lying on the ground, face down. She flinched as she took a kick in the side.

One of the men grinned, his voice filled with a gleeful amusement. "She definitely doesn't know the rules, eh boys? No niggers gets to walk on our turf after sundown. They could be crooks, you know. We gotta protect our fine community."

A laugh was shared by the other three. With glee they went at it, kicking at the woman lying on the ground.

Sophia lifted her crossbow, watching. It would be easy to shoot, to cripple or kill one of these complete wastes of oxygen. But the woman just lay there, whimpering. She didn't even try to fight back, she just lay there and endured.

If she tried to fight back, then she might have been worth the effort. She didn't even have to _do_ much. But a weak person didn't deserve protection. A rabbit that just lay there as a wolf approached deserved to be dinner. A rabbit that kicked the wolf in the jaw deserved to live. Hell, even if that rabbit just tried to _run_ , it would deserve life.

This useless lump just _lay_ there and took it.

Sophia lowered the crossbow and watched. She'd intervene. Eventually. But she'd let the prey take her lumps before the bolts would fly. The bitch was weak and stupid, and so she deserved it. Simple.

It was a long minute as the woman was beaten. Kicks and stomps from the gang members. Whimpers and cries coming from the victim as she became weaker and weaker, trying to feebly endure. Sophia watched it all with a smile on her face. She enjoyed the whimpers, the broken cries.

Still, when one of the men's hands went to the front of his pants and lowered his fly, and exposed himself, Sophia froze in realization. "How about we make this a bit more fun?" He laughed.

Yeah. That was going _too_ far.

Sophia lifted the crossbow and fired. The exposed one went down screaming, his hands covering his now-bloody crotch. The other three, predictably, freaked out. They scrambled, looking around desperately, fear on their faces.

They never looked up. People rarely do.

She took the opportunity to shoot another bolt through the leg of another one. He went down, screaming in agony. Shifting into her shadow-state, she floated down, relying on the actual darkness to conceal her. It was hard to find her at the best of times. In the middle of the night? She was all but invisible.

The other two were backing out of the alley, away from their punching bag and bleeding friends. The one who'd been shot in the crotch was screaming incoherently. The other was trying to hobble away, his eyes wide in panic.

Sophia let him. She had to teach a lesson to the other two. She didn't have the time to reload her crossbows, and they weren't good weapons at such a short range anyway. But the bolts themselves were razor-sharp. Coming up behind the pair with a bolt in each hand, she stabbed them both in the back.

One dropped immediately. The other fell, screaming and hollering. A swift kick to the face, and he lay still, a pool of blood forming beneath his limp body.

Slowly, casually, she strode over to the very still prey lying on the ground. She gave a gentle nudge to the woman with her foot, deliberately deepening her voice. "You alright?"

There was nothing. No movement. Shit. She wasn't even breathing. She dug out her cell phone to call an ambulance, and the cops to take in the wastes of skin. The cops wouldn't ask much about a few maimed or dead Empire members around a dead black woman. Especially rapist scumbags. Still, she was supposed to _try._ At least then Shadow Stalker's reputation could spread.

The slight amount of light cast by her cell phone fell on the victim's hair. A very familiar shade of hair. Straight, shoulder-length, black hair with a few gray strands mixed in.

Sophia dropped to her knees, her eyes widening in panic. "Nononono... Mom, wake up. Mom, please wake up..."

She checked for a pulse. Her heartbeat was weak, fluttering. Then it went still, her mother's eyes open, sightless. Desperately, Sophia flipped her mother over, pulled off her mask, and tried to do CPR. Tried being the operative word. She'd never taken classes, only seen it on TV.

There was a snap underneath her hands as she pressed on her mother's still chest. The taste of blood was on Sophia's tongue.

Push. Push. Push. "Come on, Mom, come on... please..."

Nothing. Nothing. There wasn't so much as a twitch.

* * *

The sun was rising before she finally stopped. Sophia wasn't sure how long it had been. Hours at least. She could barely see her mother's corpse through the tears in her eyes.

She hadn't liked her mother. Why the hell had she been out here!? She should have stayed home, like the rest of the slightly-smarter sheep! She wasn't supposed to be here! Why couldn't she have made a smart choice for once? This was as stupid as her getting together with...

With Steven. That fucking _scumbag_ Steven.

Sophia had hated Steven. He had seemed so nice, so good, as if he could have replaced her deadbeat dad. At the time, she'd actually begun to warm up to him. Then... he fucked with her. One happy mask out in public. In private, clenched fists, yelling, and a hungry look whenever he looked over the budding teenager. Any talkback was punished, and everything he did wore on Sophia's resistance just a little more. Then when out one warm day, out trying to 'bond' with his would-be stepdaughter, Steven and Sophia were ambushed by a group of Empire members.

And when the chips were down, Steven showed himself a coward. He threw the thirteen-year old Sophia at the gang members and tried to run. Sophia tried to fight back, failed... and triggered, gaining the power she used and loved. The power to move, to run, to fight back. Steven? He'd been caught, had his throat slit, and bled out on the pavement. The one and only time Sophia could think of that the Empire members _ever_ did anything good.

Steven's dead eyes she'd taken satisfaction in. Her mother's...they were just so _empty._

What was she going to do? Run around homeless? Catch a bus to...any bugfuck town that wasn't swamped by goddamn Nazis? As much as Sophia chafed under her mother, having to sneak around her to go out and work off her aggression on the weakling scum that deserved it, she had no idea what to do about living on her own.

Mom, as much as Sophia disliked her at times, as much as she struggled for space, as much as she fought with her...she was Sophia's only support, though even that had been lacking. What was going to happen next? A foster home? Sophia would rather die than have to submit to a stranger. She could barely handle staying in the same house with her own...

Her mother's eyes stared back at her.

She was going to kill them all. The whole fucking Empire. She's was going to rip through all of them. One after another. She'd go through their dealers, their pimps, their protection rackets. She'd set bombs for the capes, ghost in, shoot, ghost out. She'd take her time. She'll wait _years_ if she has to. She was going to kill every last goddamn Empire member for what they did to her mother.

Sophia clenched her crossbow. Store-bought, simple, useful. Quiet. It worked so well. So useful. There wasn't anything else. For a year and a half...

A year and a half? That wasn't right. She'd been using crossbows for...

Where was her auto-reloading crossbow? The one the PRT provided? Why was she wearing her hockey mask? Where was her Tinkertech equipped mask, that let her see power lines through walls? Where was her radio? Her tranquillizer-equipped bolts? Sophia lifted the crossbow in her hand and examined it, carefully.

They'd taken this one away. The scratches and familiar grip were captured perfectly. The PRT had taken it from her, destroyed it to 'help change her image away from vigilante to Ward.' She'd watched it burn, the string snap in the flames, the familiar notches on the hilt curl up and blacken before it had burned to ashes. But here it was, in her hand.

She looked down at her mother's corpse. Then around at the alley. There was something _wrong_ here. There was blood but...

The bodies. Only her mother's body was left. There should have been the Empire skinheads here, but there was _just_ her mother's corpse. That wasn't right. That wasn't _right. The whole world was wrong.  
_  
The answer hit her. _Master/Stranger protocol. I've been compromised._

Clenching her teeth, she tore her gaze away, and looked up at the lightening sky. "Cut this shit out! Fuck you and fuck this bullshit! I'm on to you fuckers!"

The body at her feet dissolved away, fading as if it were fog being dissolved by the morning sun. The walls of the alley melted, the sky darkened and turned into an obsidian roof.

Sophia turned, looking around. The room's carpeting was a deep, rich red. The walls were black marble. Tapestries hung on the walls, showing scenes of ancient battles. A man in silver, standing against a great white demon, the warrior's hands alight in flames. Around the pillars holding up the high roof were snaking draconic imagery, as dark as the rest of the stone that made up everything else. Black and red.

Surrounding Sophia were six drop-dead gorgeous women. They were lowering their hands, but their eyes were filled with hunger and desire as they looked upon the teenager. Behind them was another woman, her skin entirely black. Horns sprung from her head, and she had actual _wings_ sprouting from her back, like oversized bat wings.

And behind _her,_ at the far end of the room was an elevated throne, shrouded in shadow. It was almost as if the darkness was a solid, palpable thing, working to prevent even a single stray flicker of light from reaching it. On that throne, barely visible at all, was a vaguely humanoid figure, only discernable by the glowing red eyes.

"Well?" The figure spoke.

The white-haired demon spoke. "As we expected, My Lady."

A slight chuckle of amusement. "I thought so. It was worth a try, I suppose."

Sophia clenched her hand around her crossbow, taking solace in its comforting weight. She snarled at the shadowed figure on the throne. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? What did you do to me!?"

The red eyes narrowed slightly. "I decided to test you, Sophia Hess. I needed to see if there was an actual human being behind that bravado. Behind Shadow Stalker, the vigilante. Behind Sophia Hess, the bully. I needed to see if there was anything worth salvaging." A dark chuckle. "You lived exactly to our expectations. You're welcome for the removal of your little slave collar, by the way. I've no use for it."

Sophia grit her teeth. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" With that reminder, her hand went to her neck, unable to fully keep the smile off her face at the feeling of _freedom._

A momentary pause. Sophia could hear the smile in the voice of the red-eyed figure. "You were given to me as a gift. I have no use for a slave. Or an unwilling pet. An employee, perhaps, but I'm aware of some of the things you've done. I had to see if you were worth recruiting. There's something coming, Sophia, something dangerous. Something that's going to quite possibly kill all of humanity. We need everyone who can possibly contribute. I had to know what kind of person you were, underneath the mask. And you were exactly what I expected."

The anger faded slowly, and Sophia felt a grin pulling at the edges of her lips. "You want a badass to join you, huh? This your recruitment pitch?"

"No, Sophia. You're done. You're not worth a _third_ chance. You'll just piss it away, like you did both your first and second ones. You're a waste of effort."

Sophia felt a tidal wave of white-hot rage. She charged forward, shifting into her shadow-state to get past the line of women in front of her. The white-haired demon stepped out of the way.

Inwardly, Sophia grinned. She lifted the crossbow, firing it with ease at the arrogant bitch on the throne. The bolt flew forward, shifting out of the shadow-state just as it would strike the bitch. It'd rephase into reality right in the bitches' heart and-

\- Sophia found herself on the red carpet, her throat sore, feeling like she'd been deep fried. There was a faint flicker of electricity on the hand of the one on the throne, the flicker vanishing as Sophia recognized it.

Fuck. She just _had_ to go up against an electro...electro... lightning-throwing fucker. And that _really fucking hurt._

Electrokinetic. That was it. That's the word she was looking for. Owowowowowow.

Sophia tried to get to her feet, her muscles protesting at every movement. The movement was difficult, painful, and she let out a soft sob before she managed to stifle it.

"Same old Sophia. The first option is violence. Do you have any other tools in your toolbox at all?"

Sophia growled, pushing herself off the floor, carefully and gingerly getting to her feet. "Fuck you. You fucked with my head. You got no right to play the moral high card on me. Who the fuck are you, anyway!?"

A dark chuckle. "Does it matter? There was a point to this, Sophia. I wanted to see what you'd do when you thought nobody was watching. See if you could be trusted to fulfil a mission. See if it was possible we could trust you. And you couldn't. I doubted it, personally, considering you went off and started playing around and tormenting a civilian when you were already in deep shit. But I had to see how you would act without oversight. I already know you're capable of behaving as long as someone's watching you. You'd _hate_ it, but you'd do it. But on your own?" The figure leaned forward, but was still wreathed in shadow. "You let Empire members beat the crap out of a black woman just because she wouldn't fight back. You only cared after you realized it was your own _mother._ And you know what else? My succubi didn't sense a single lick of concern for your little brother or sister. No worries at all about what might happen to them because of your fuckup. It was all about what _you_ would do. You're lucky it was all an illusion, that your mother is actually just fine at home. You haven't spared a single thought about all that, have you?"

"Fuck you." Sophia snarled. "You were fucking with my head. Who's to say what you did with me was anywhere near what I'd normally do?"

The figure chuckled as she stood, stepping forward into the light.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I have a fair bit of experience with you." Hebert said. Fucking Hebert was standing _right there._ With the fucking _crossbow bolt_ still in her chest and giving _zero fucks._

Sophia gaped.

Taylor smiled. "Now there's the look I was looking forward to." With a slight frown, she reached down and ripped the bolt from her chest, looking over the sharp, bloodied head. "I'm impressed. These things didn't cut me when I tried them on myself, but your power bypassed my defense. Pity it doesn't help your position. Here I'm trying to have a conversation, and you go right to shooting. Just as expected."

Faintly, Sophia managed to speak, feeling as if a noose was around her neck. "You're dead."

"Yes. I am. Thanks to you. Lucky for me, it didn't stick. Not entirely, anyway. I move. I act. I think. I'm just not _alive._ " Taylor tilted her head, her eyes glowing a deep red. She almost casually dropped the bloody bolt at her feet. "You killed me. Did you even feel the slightest twinge about that? What did I ever do to deserve that? How many corpses do you leave behind on a trip to the grocery store?"

Sophia shook herself. "Bullshit. I didn't kill you. Emma came up with the locker idea. You were so goddamn weak you triggered in there and pulled this...fucking bullshit against me! What the fuck is it with you? Laying low for how goddamn long to pull a revenge plot? Laying low for months just so you can spring this? Fuck you."

Taylor's smile widened. "Revenge plot? How much effort do you think I put into this? No, I decided to take advantage of an opportunity when you were handed to me, practically gift-wrapped with a little red bow. I gave Madison a second chance. I gave Emma a chance to explain, perhaps to forgive her, if not forget. She blew that, because she turned out to be _entirely_ self-centered. Understandable, maybe, but I can't afford that. I decided to give even _you_ a chance, but you blew _that._ You're no hero, Sophia. You don't deserve to be within a _light-year_ of that word. You're just a bully and a thug, enjoying the suffering of others, and with no concern for the feelings of those around you. Not a single _bit_ of concern for how your actions affect others. Fuck, I'm nowhere near perfect there myself, but at least I'm trying. You? You didn't even _try_ to consider what you were doing. Didn't it occur to you that maybe your mother was out in the middle of the night looking for you? That maybe, despite the fact she has trouble showing it, that she might have cared? Or that if you'd made a non-toxic relationship, took some backup, that the whole alley shit there would have been stopped? Do you always have to slap away a hand offered to help, unless you're hopelessly desperate?"

Sophia snarled. "You don't know my mother. You don't get to talk down to me. You don't fucking know what it's like to be alone. You don't get to _fuck_ with me. Lay off. I don't need this shit. I don't have to hear this."

Taylor's fingers arced with electricity, her voice cold and chilling. "I think you do. You won't listen otherwise. You only respect power, you taught me that _very_ well. Don't blame me for learning the lesson you were so eager to teach me. You're not a reasonable person, Sophia. All you seem to get is negative consequences. And even then, even when the bad shit happens that's your own fault, you blame it on others." Taylor's smile had a slight glint of fangs as she spoke. "You blame me for dying in the locker, when you shoved me in there. You blame the skinheads for killing your illusion of a mother, when you just sat there and watched it happen. You could have stopped it, saved her, but nope. You made the choice. My girls here just made it possible to test you without actually getting anyone hurt. Your mother is safe and sound at home, utterly unaware of what's going on here. I do know she's disappointed in you, though. Federal fugitive, murderer, and villain masquerading as a hero. As you are, you're useless. Worse than useless, because the second you don't think anyone's looking, you're just going to go off, hurt someone, maybe kill them for the joy of it. How much does it take for you to decide to kill someone, hm? Look at you funny? Exist in your general vicinity? We both know I did nothing to you."

Sophia snarled. "You were weak. You deserved it. If you were strong, you would have laughed at the jokes. Shrugged it off. Fought back. But you just took it. You showed your place, fit right into it. Besides, what the fuck are you so mad about? You're _strong_ now, and I made you strong!"

Taylor was utterly still for a moment, then her tone dipped to as cold as liquid nitrogen. "Yes. Let me show you how _grateful_ I am at that."

Sophia glanced backward as she felt someone come near, seeing the women behind her. They looked...hungry.

The white-haired demon spoke, a small smile on her lips. "May I devour her soul, My Lady? It would be a shame to allow our allies to do it instead. They already had some."

Sophia's eyes widened. "Wait, _what?_ "

Taylor smiled. "You were kept captive some distance away from a cape that eats memories. Within about five hundred feet. Just barely, mind you. You lost maybe a month or two. If you'd have been kept in the same _room,_ you'd have lost everything. You'd be a drooling, idiotic mess, ripe to be molded and shaped however I wanted. Even the cape's compatriots were upset when they realized their little friend was actually eating souls and not just wiping memories. Not horrified, but that's still more consideration than _you_ ever showed. They could have made you into my little slave, believing you were a dog to be handled on a leash." The smile dropped. "But I don't need a slave. I don't want one. And letting that happen to you would make me _worse_ than you. At the same time, I can't just let you go. You'll just wait for a moment, then do the same shit to someone else. Even putting you in prison, while cathartic, would also be setting responsibility aside. I have no doubt you'd go and rip someone's eyes out in the first month if you could get away with it. Thankfully, I have other options. I'm just going to have to put you somewhere you can't hurt anybody."

Taylor lifted her head. "Door."

A glowing orange octagon appeared in the air. Even as Sophia turned to look, something smacked into her back and she was pushed through.

She spluttered as she found herself in a mud pit. Groaning in disgust, she pushed off the ground, shifting to her shadow-state to float almost lazily in the air. Drifting off the side of the pit, she found a satchel.

Turning back to her normal self, she opened it. She smiled viciously as she saw what was inside. A crossbow, recent model, state of the art, and _sixty_ bolts, along with what looked like an expensive set of body armor tailored into her costume. On the side was also a set of camping supplies, everything she'd need to make a fire, a tent, a cooler, water, some basic foodstuffs. Even a fully stocked medkit, antibiotics, sutures and needles. Everything she'd need to make a camping trip, if not comfortable, at least livable.

Now she'd just have to find her way back to civilization. She'd fucking _show_ Hebert and put one of these nicely sharp bolts though her stupid smug face. She'd just have to figure out a good way to go.

* * *

Two hours of trudging later, and Sophia was very, very pissed off. There hadn't been any sign of civilization. Nowhere at all. No smoke, no roadway, nothing. Even her trusty cell phone had no signal, no sat connection, so she was stuck checking shadows to try and keep her bearings. She was travelling east, so _hopefully_ she'd find a river, which would eventually lead to the ocean. And replenish her water supply, because it was fucking _hot_ out here.

Still, she felt energized. The air was clear. It wasn't a _bad_ day, it just wasn't where she wanted to be.

Fucking Hebert. What the hell happened? Now that she was thinking on it, she felt _hurt_ in the back of her head. Most of the time she didn't notice, she felt alright as long as she wasn't thinking about it. But trying to remember some of the details about what happened in the last couple of months was like scraping her hand over broken glass. Something felt _sharp_ in the back of her head, and it was _maddening._

She stopped as a faint, jagged memory came back to her. Being kept in Coil's cell. The man's fear. Mercenaries commenting on... something. The Simurgh. What was it. It fucking _hurt_ trying to remember...

Scarlet Dragon. Killing the Simurgh. A Brockton Bay cape.

That was fucking _Hebert?_ Why the hell was she so pissed at Sophia? If she triggered as someone strong enough to kill a fucking Endbringer, then why the hell wasn't she thanking her? _She became strong because of me. The whole goddamn world should be thanking me._

Then Sophia went and faceplanted into the dirt.

She'd tripped over something, lost in her thoughts. Or rather, she'd stepped into a hole. A strangely-shaped, large hole.

It was a footprint. Three-toed. Deep. A foot and a half long. Sophia stepped out of it, looking it over with confusion.

 _The hell could make a footprint like that?_

A loud roar caught her attention. Then a second one, a bit further distant. Carefully, Sophia moved toward the top of a nearby hill, her heart pounding as she swallowed in a suddenly dry mouth.

Down on the valley below was a nesting ground. The trees had been ripped out of the ground, and it was littered with bones. Very large bones. There were two large animals below, covered in blue and red feathers, standing around fifteen feet tall. Large maws with bloodstained teeth. Two little arms on them, a long, sinuous tail swinging behind them.

Sophia's mouth opened and closed in disbelief.

She was dropped off in the land of _fucking dinosaurs._

 _Fucking Hebert._

The two T-Rexes, for they could be nothing else, suddenly turned and looked at Sophia. They roared and started moving toward her, the ground thumping with every step.

Oh. Fuck.

* * *

Taylor sat on her throne, twirling the crossbow bolt between her fingers pensively. After a lot of consideration, she spoke. "Well. That was a mess. Fuck. I enjoyed that a lot more than I'm comfortable with."

Meridia nodded. "So I sensed, My Lady. However, you did not do as Dracul would have. He would have tortured her to death for what she did."

"And instead, I sentenced her to exile. Even if she can handle things, she'll never hear another human voice again, unless we retrieve her." Taylor sighed, looking and sounding exhausted. "It's a shame, really. It wouldn't have taken much to change my mind. A bit of remorse. Worry for her little brother and sister. Guilt over not stepping in. Just a sliver of regret. But she went immediately toward blaming everyone else. She'd never change. We'd have to have someone watching her all day every day to do the job she was assigned to, and frankly she's not worth the effort. She had an assault with a deadly weapon charge on her head when she was brought into the Wards, and she just waited until they weren't looking so close before she thoughtlessly killed me _._ She didn't learn with her future on the line. We couldn't even trust her to act even in her own best interests, because she doesn't think that far ahead. Least she can't hurt anyone now."

Meridia shrugged. "She is her own creature, My Lady. She earned her fate. Any she befriended, she would poison. I doubt she will have the opportunity to do so there."

"Mm." Taylor nodded. She licked her lip, then lifted her gaze to the other succubi in the room. "My girls. You did an amazing job with the illusions. I'm proud of you."

They answered with smiles. "As our Lady commands." Lilliandra spoke.

Taylor answered with a faint smile of her own. "You've earned your bonuses, and then some."

Meridia laughed softly, stepping behind the pillar she had been standing near. A moment later, she came back around, carrying several backpacks.

"Girls," she spoke with excitement. "We have _laptops._ "


	90. Titanomachy 8-3

A/N: Working away. I know the delays have sucked. I've just lacked time to write. There's a fair bit more to go, but the end is in sight.

* * *

"All right. We want you to try and open a portal to Earth Aleph, first. That will do as a control." Alexandria said, her voice clear and confident. "We need to see how your power works interdimensionally. We already know you have impressive range within the same dimension."

Doctor Mother inclined her head. "That's the biggest hurdle. If we have a chance at fixing that, we'll do a lot better. I'll be a lot happier about unleashing destruction on Scion's world than any inhabited one."

I let out an irritated breath. "All right. I've tried to make a portal to Aleph before, but it hadn't worked. Back in a minute." I opened a portal, strode through, and turned around to face one of the many Shadow Gates I'd flung hither and yon, mainly at random, throughout the Shadow Plane.

Truth be told, I was somewhat annoyed at this particular limitation of my power. It made _no_ sense that I could make a portal anywhere on the planet, but that I had to anchor them in the Shadow Plane was a pain in the ass. Sure, I could work around it. I could even take advantage of it at times, but I was still stuck with having to make them this way. I guessed it had _something_ to do with ensuring stable travel back and forth, and it had been used that way for thousands of years, but... it seemed _arbitrary._

Well, that's magic for you. One drop of my blood ingested kills. Half a gallon injected into a bloodstream is just horrifically painful. Which... actually, was one of the reasons Dracul formed the Shadow Whip in the first place. Maximum possible pain while wielding a familiar weapon. Yep, Dracul was a jerk. Is a jerk. He's still alive. Well, undead. And wishing he was dead.

Focus, Taylor.

I turned myself around and concentrated. The portal within the Gate shut, then fizzled as I attempted to open it on Earth Aleph. I frowned clucked my tongue as I tried to consider the problem. I could open a portal from anywhere on a physical world to here...why was it such an issue in reverse?

I opened the portal back to Cauldron and stepped through. I looked at Doctor Mother and shook my head. "Doesn't work. I've tried before, but I'm not sure what's wrong."

Doctor Mother grimaced. "This is discouraging."

Alexandria looked thoughtful. "Try one more time. This time, try... 'Ellesmere Island, northern shore, Earth Aleph.'"

I shrugged, turned, and stepped back. With a frown, I shut the portal, then tried to reopen it in the place Alexandria described.

Fizzle. Dammit.

When I stomped back through to Cauldron, I was nearly fuming. "Nope."

Alexandria nodded, her lips pursed in thought. "Door, Earth Aleph, Ellesmere Island."

The now-familiar portal snapped open near Alexandria. The room's temperature dropped almost immediately as a howling wind and snow started pouring through the portal.

Alexandria gestured. "Come on! We need to test this!"

Doctor Mother's teeth chattered. "Now, please!"

Shaking my head, I followed Alexandria as she stepped through. The portal shut behind us...or at least I thought it did, because I couldn't see a damn thing in this blizzard.

Oh. Right. I can do something about that.

I thrust a hand skyward as I concentrated, sending my power upward and out, stretching it to grasp the storm. It was a strange thing, to alter the weather according to my whim. It was easier to add strength to a storm, or gather the stormclouds together in the first place, than it was to calm one in progress. It was probably because I was trying to take energy out of the system rather than putting it in, and my magic didn't really appreciate that much.

Still, my efforts paid off. After about a minute, the wind had calmed. The snow was still falling in clumps, and it wasn't easy to see, but it was better than the storm howling right in my face. Now I could see Alexandria and I were standing at the shoreline of some barren island. There was a cliff face off to the right, but otherwise there was a ton of ice and snow and not much else here.

Alexandria was looking at me with consideration.

"What?" I snapped.

Alexandria shook her head. "When I was first told that you were a god, I didn't believe it. Now... I can see why the label applies. Stopping a storm like that, controlling the weather, that's the kind of thing most people would consider godlike. There are ancient myths of gods and heroes doing things like that. I'm..." She paused a moment, then shook her head again. "It's not something I ever considered would be possible. I'm used to being looked up to by a lot of people." She looked down at her hands. "They'd look on me differently if they'd known the things I've done out of sight. The things I've done to help prepare for the fight against Scion. Feeding desperate people formulas to save their lives, only for them to fail and have them mutate into monsters. Even the successes are caught by us, controlled and molded for the final battle. All the while never knowing if it accomplished _anything._ "

I sucked in a breath. Truth be told, I hadn't considered how things would be for her. I was used to thinking of Alexandria as an icon. But she was a person trying to live up to that icon, despite the horrible things she'd done along the way. I licked my lips. Still, considering she'd known about the possibility of a destroyed world from Scion, I could see why she'd be a part of this.

Some people thought the lack of fear of a higher power would make people into monsters. I knew that wasn't true. The only thing oversight does to terrible people is to get them to behave while they're being looked at, and even then it wasn't a sure thing. (Fucking Sophia.) People who _lacked_ fear weren't monsters. They didn't tend to consider that fear could make people into monsters. People, just a few centuries ago, burned people at the stake for witchcraft when a cow got sick or the well-water tasted funny.

 _Dracul, staring out at the stars as the sun seared the flesh from his bones. The asteroids that used to be his world tumbling around at random. An eternal torment for a man who made himself a monster for his own vengeance._

The fear of _that._ The fear of annihilation. It would be enough to turn a saint into a...well, a Dracul. Especially if there was no certainty anything they tried did _any_ good at all. You just kept trying more, hoping that _something_ would work. And being afraid to test if it _would,_ because if it failed, congratulations! You just doomed humanity! That was enough stress to make anyone snap.

I shook my head. "I've seen an example of what's coming. You've got my support, I don't want to see it happen again, either." I sighed as I tried to order my thoughts. "Dracul had centuries of experience, and he was useless against the one that killed his world. I know I can't do this myself. I don't _like_ the things you've done. I don't like that there's thousands of victims by your group's hands, even more through your inaction. But I _do_ understand it, and things are rarely just the way we like it."

Alexandria's lip quirked slightly. "You haven't said anything to me I haven't said to myself. We hope we now have a chance. That's all we have, though. We don't know enough, and our best tools for finding more information are limited. It's maddening."

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah." Having run out of conversational topics, I turned and formed a portal. There was a second of resistance before it formed, but it did form.

Alexandria nodded in satisfaction. "I thought so. To open a portal to somewhere, you have to get there first. Then it works."

I frowned. "Maybe. At least, partially..." I closed my eyes, letting my mind expand to that _cosmic_ perspective I enjoyed once upon the Moon. It felt _weird,_ and it was difficult to handle, still, but it was enough. I could feel a tingle as the darkness of my power seemed to touch and grasp the darkness in this dimension. My power, _Dracul's_ power had existed in multiple realities before, during the journey to my world, but it didn't seem to know how to handle the situation of dimension-hopping. I was essentially building an index of addresses, but I couldn't just take advantage of an existing index. I had to start from scratch.

And _whoa,_ trying to grasp and feel things on the stellar scale was dizzying. I swayed on my feet before an adamantine hand clasped my shoulder, steadying me.

"You alright?" Alexandria asked, her single eye focused on my face.

I nodded, my wings twitching. "Yes. Just a bit of a rush. The problem is I need to get some of my power somewhere before I can open a portal to it. I don't need much, but my power doesn't know how to get from one dimension to another. It's fine once it's _there,_ but until then..."

She nodded in understanding. "Then it can't find it." A slight smile lifted on her lips. "Maybe we can get around that."

* * *

I sucked in a breath.

Doctor Mother's voice was quiet. "This is Doormaker, and Clairvoyant. Without these two early successes, Cauldron could never have done as well as we have. We try to keep them comfortable, fed, warm, entertained. But use of their powers over the years have atrophied their senses. We owe them both more than we can ever repay."

On a pair of beds in the cell were two men. One was in his early twenties, the other in his thirties. Both were reed-thin, frail, and pale, as if they hadn't seen the sun in over a decade. They weren't quite entirely looking like coma patients, but it was damn close.

Still, I could see why they let this happen. I reminded myself of Dracul, burning in the sun in the midst of the ruins of a dead world. "Alright. How is this going to work?"

Doctor Mother nodded. "Clairvoyant can see Scion's true body. He shares his senses with others who touch him. Doormaker can't reach that body, but we hope you can, as your portal ability isn't from Scion or his counterpart. Sidestepping the barrier he's using to protect himself. We're not going to have you try _that_ just yet, that might set him off. But if you can use Clairvoyant's power to reach other Earths, it should make things far easier when the time comes."

I nodded. "Can't go through the wall, dig under it." I stepped into the room. "Anything I should be aware of?"

"The rush of information can be disorienting. When you try to disengage, be sure to pull your awareness back to yourself before you do. If you disconnect while experiencing too much, it'll knock you out for an extended period. A week is rather common."

I nodded in understanding. I braced myself, sucked in a breath, and placed my hand on the shoulder to the man on the left.

Nothing happened.

Doctor Mother coughed. "That's Doormaker. Clairvoyant's the other one. Sorry."

I rolled my eyes. The man on the right giggled at me, which was rather disturbing, considering the smooth patches of skin where his eyes _should_ have been. I braced myself once more, then touched his shoulder.

After a moment, I frowned. "Is something supposed to happen? Is there a delay before I see anything?"

Doctor Mother's voice was confused. "Nothing? Almost everyone who Clairvoyant has ever touched usually gets the rush of information. Awareness of the Earths throughout the multiverse."

"Well, I got nothing." I tapped his bare skin with my hand for emphasis. "All I'm seeing is this room. With my own eyes, not his power." I frowned and thought about it. "Shit. His power can't work with mine. My brain's just meat. I'm not using it. Which sounds bad, I know, but that's how it goes."

"Damn." She muttered. "Non-standard physiology. I should have guessed. We never tried a number of Case 53's with Clairvoyant. If he can't connect, then it doesn't work. Goddamn it."

I nodded with a frown. "I've got an idea, though I'm not sure how useful it will be. We're fairly sure he's going to wreck Earth Bet, right? How about we work out ways to evacuate large numbers? Or get them out of Scion's range?"

* * *

I looked out over Brockton Bay. Though here, there was no Brockton Bay. It was just a bay, one of many along the American coastline. Though 'American' wasn't right either. How to call it American when those who would have named it so never evolved here? The air was clean, the sky a beautiful, crisp blue, and there was simply plains of grass and, here and there, the figures of various megafauna below.

Heck, right where Captain's Hill was in my home reality, there was a twelve foot long iguana sunning itself.

Alexandria floated at my side, her voice quiet. "There's been a lot of worlds like this. Hundreds of thousands we could spread out to, only if Doormaker was able to make a permanent portal. It would buy us some time, if nothing else. But if we can't kill Scion, any settlement we made would be vulnerable. He could just sweep in and destroy any refugees we settled, and there would be nothing we could do to stop him. Humanity would be trapped, hoping he would just go away. And never sure."

"And if you won?" I said, imagining the settlement in my mind's eye. It would be much like colonial times, I think. I'd seen artist's drawings of early colonial cities. It wouldn't be comfortable. Of course, I could be so utterly, completely wrong. Who knows what we might be able to pull off with the appropriate bullshit?

Alexandria bowed her head slightly. "This world was slated to have the unstable Case 53s here. The stable ones we can reintegrate into society in one way or another, but the unstable ones are only useful for throwing at Scion. Even then, the treatment for making the unstable ones stable was hit and miss. If we'd known what Slug was really doing..."

I looked at her and lifted an eyebrow. "First, the damage is done. Second, I saw what one of these things does to a world if it isn't stopped. Don't tell me you wouldn't have used Slug anyway, if it improved the chances at all. Dracul did things just as bad as you and your group for far smaller reasons. It's still horrible as fuck, mind you. To destroy a soul is horrific, and there's not too much excuse for it. That's the kind of thing Solin and Typhon did. Both of them. At least you had a reason beyond 'It was helpful to me personally.'"

She was silent for a moment, then she sighed and spoke quietly. "It's times like this I miss Hero. He was one of our greatest successes. He was a good man, and a good friend. He'd have argued against mass-test batches, tried for more numerous and stable formulas. More formulas that were likely to produce Tinkers. After he died, and the attempt to create another formula that replicated his power failed... we took bigger risks. It wasn't until we got certain Thinkers on board that we managed to smooth out the issues. Still, using Slug to stabilize the mutation victims... it was the only way that worked. It was wipe their memories and use stabilizing agent, or leave them in horrific pain, with powers that were more a threat to themselves and others than anything useful."

I nodded. "Still, the best laid plans of mice and men." I floated downward to the valley, where the city actually was in some dimension far, far away from here. "I've got a few Gates we can use to evacuate. They're too big for Doormaker's portals though. I'll have to bring them around through my own portals."

Alexandria nodded in return. "We'd best get started." She paused for a moment. "You sure you can't open a portal to Scion's body?"

I shook my head. "And I really don't want to try until we have to. If we move before we're ready, we're dead." I lifted a hand and concentrated. The portal opened, and a moment later, my demons began to file out of the portal. Succubi, werewolves, golems, and larger beasts.

The native wildlife saw the emerging army, and promptly began vacating the area. It was rather odd to see a lizard the size of a car take one look at my massing army and say 'Nope!' and dash away. I lifted my hands as the thousand or so demons emerged, looking up at me.

"This world is ours." I called. "Bring one half of our forces through here. We will build a city here, it is to be made in case our great enemy comes. Make sure there is enough room to house as many people as possible." I took a moment to look over my army of demons. My subjects. My people. "I am counting on you. Do not fail me."

* * *

Another day later, Dragon and I were with Alexandria in my dining hall. I'd have used the throne room, but that wasn't the impression I wanted to make on Cauldron's representatives, anyway. For the sake of security, it was empty, but we had a lot to discuss anyway.

"I don't like it." Dragon said. She looked at Alexandria, her mechanical form humorless. "You've been part of this, orchestrating this from the beginning. How much of the PRT and the Protectorate are lies, Alexandria? How much blood was spilled to make you, to make the Triumvirate?"

Alexandria shook her head. "Too many. Given the options we had, Cauldron took the best ones possible. We're not facing the deaths of millions or even billions, Dragon. We're facing the end of uncounted trillions more, on worlds just as real as Earth Bet. I was not part of it to begin with. I was one of the test subjects you're arguing _for._ I was an eighteen year old dying of cancer. Cauldron cured me with an untested formula. Eidolon was a helpless twenty-something trapped in a wheelchair. He became the most powerful hero on Earth, and how many people has he saved in his years of work? Hero was a brilliant college student dying of brain cancer. His formula saved his life, another untested formula. We, _all of us,_ knew the risks when we took them. Powers to help the world against its greatest threat, mutation, or death. We were looking at death without that aid. Not everyone accepted the bargain, either. But there's a lot of heroes in the Protectorate today that would have died otherwise. Does it make up for the victims? Perhaps not. But given the tools we had? It was act or just allow what you call an 'Abomination' murder every iteration of humanity."

Dragon simply stared. "It's easy to make sacrifices when it's someone else who has to suffer for it."

I cleared my throat. "Dragon, we're not getting anywhere here. I don't like it either. But the damage is done. Recriminations about the past aren't going to help anything right now. Now how the Case 53s have been treated is horrific. We can do things to try and help things, and..." I looked seriously at Alexandria. "Your group has a responsibility to help them."

She nodded. "And we will. When Scion is dead. If we can't kill him, they will die along with the rest of us."

Dragon's head reared back slightly. There was a slight crackle as she was about to say something, but then a Doormaker portal opened. Four people strode through, and I had to blink. The sheer mismatch was enough to make anyone do a double-take.

The first was a woman, in her thirties, very attractive, with Italian features. She wore a business suit, and a fedora was perched on her head. She walked through with confidence, though I could also see her shoulders were a bit tense.

The second was a man in blue and gold, his hair shoulder-length and his features plain. If he was wearing a sweater and jeans, I'd have never looked at him twice. A gorgeous blue cape swished behind him, and despite his appearance, he had a certain _presence_ about him. Apostle. Eidolon. Whatever. I was happy that I could finally see him, but pissed off it only happened _now._

It was the other two that surprised me most, though. A short, fat figure, looking almost like a mobile black hole. The only hint at a face was a pair of white glowing eyes, but otherwise, I had the sense that he was smiling. For some reason, he reminded me of a laughing, smiling Buddha.

The last one that really surprised me. A tall, willowy woman, heartbreakingly beautiful with hair seemingly made of grass. Flowers sprouted from her shoulders, and she was wearing a dress made of shifting rock. I knew who she was, if only from a few fragmented memories from Dracul's life.

"Gaia." I spoke, giving her a nod. "It's good to see you're well, and free. Dracul showed me what happened to you."

Gaia inclined her head slightly. "Thank you. It's good to be free, to be able to breathe. To act. I remember how he tried to attack me, while I was helpless. It was like a nightmare, and he utterly failed to free me. I was forced to work at the monster's behest. Forced to capture what was interesting and murder the rest." She smiled faintly. "It is also good to see that there is hope. That even Abominations may die."

The woman with the fedora cleared her throat. "That is what we are here to discuss." She bowed her head slightly. "I am Contessa. From the moment Scion and his counterpart arrived, I have been working to stop them. I saw what they planned to do to us. To experiment upon us, to learn from us, and when they learned all they could, they would wipe us out to make more of themselves and spread to other worlds. I and Doctor Mother managed to cripple and kill Scion's counterpart."

Apostle nodded. "We managed to reconstruct a lot of what happened. The Endbringers. What happened to the gods of the world this castle originally belonged to. I've been working on freeing them."

Dragon tilted her head, her voice emotionless. "How many so far?"

The fat, dark one chuckled, his voice echoing. "Eight. Myself, Lorkhan, Scylla, Gaia, Janus, Hyperion, Ariel and Pan."

Dragon's eyes flashed as she stared at him. "You're the one freeing Gray Boy victims. That explains a lot. Those dropped off at the hospitals. Where are the rest?"

Say what now? "You can _do_ that?" I looked at him more closely, before it clicked. "Chronos. I know you only by reputation. Dracul never met you."

He nodded. "Indeed. Part of my rather retiring nature, as it was. I prefer watching and recording history over making it, but this situation has given us few options. I have already experienced the result of being passive in the face of one of these... beasts, and I have no wish to repeat it. We have been trying to prepare. There's much to do. Janus, Hyperion, and Pan are still weak, resting, trying to gather their strength. Part of my preparations was in freeing those who were tormented by my own power, taken and twisted. I asked some of them if they would be willing to assist us against the Abomination. Those who accepted are currently training and honing their abilities."

"Are they well?" Dragon spoke, her voice cool.

Chronos shrugged. "Their connection to the Plane of Time remains strong. They are currently undertaking a task, from what I know. It is likely you will hear of them shortly."

I leaned forward a bit. "Good to know. Where's Ariel?"

"Voluntarily contained." Contessa spoke cooly. "We have concerns about her. It is very difficult to forget all the lives shattered by the Simurgh. Even if Ariel was its unwilling power source, we believed it best to limit our exposure to her and vice-versa. Those who see her are likely to panic. She is attempting to parse possible futures to our advantage, though I believe she is less capable than the Simurgh was."

Apostle shook his head. "Things are different here. Not too much, but enough to make things harder for her. Still, our chances are improving. We need to act together, or we're going to lose, and with us, a lot of people are going to fall with us."

I nodded. "We've distributed weapons, armor, my demons are willing to act. I've even got a couple of portals ready to be sent to Mars and Titan, though we'll still need to get them there."

Dragon nodded. "Been a little busy with the solar harvesting stations. We still don't have much infrastructure for getting out of the Earth's gravity well, though Tranquillity Base is help- shit!"

What?

Dragon's voice snapped as she lifted onto her hind legs. "We have to move. Leviathan's speeding towards Europe right now."

Apostle had gone pale. "No. It's worse than that."

Everyone in the room was staring at him now.

He grimaced. "Behemoth is moving too."

Well. Fuck.


	91. Titanomachy 8-4

A/N: Yep, this is going to be rough.

I've been struggling with this for a while now. I'm still not wholly happy with it, but it must be posted else no progress will be made.

Also, Backtrax on Spacebattles is awesome. He remains awesome. He deserves a cake.

* * *

"Where? Where is Behemoth going?" Alexandria demanded.

Apostle shook his head. "I can't tell. He's moving. Determined. He wants to be free, both of them do. They don't sense the world we do. It's part of their mutilation, _all_ they sense is through their powers."

Gaia nodded with a shudder. "I sensed things through vibrations in the Earth, attacks against my skin. I could not see, nor hear, nor breathe. If Ifrit and Lotan are limited in the same way, they can not see, nor choose what they do. They must act, they have no choice, and at best they can only steer their actions somewhat."

Dragon's head tilted slightly. "I'm reading earthquakes over a wide area...epicentre is...northern Wyoming. Near Highway 212."

Alexandria frowned. "There's no major infrastructure there. No big cities. What's his target?"

Dragon was still for a moment, then she stiffened. "Yellowstone National Park. That's his target. Nothing else fits."

Contessa paled. "Unacceptable."

I shook my head. "What, what's so important about him hitting the park?"

Dragon's voice was grave. "Yellowstone sits upon a supervolcano. The last time it erupted, it destroyed several mountains in the range and killed everything within a hundred mile radius. It spread ash into the atmosphere and covered nearly half the continent in an ash cloud. That would destroy the major food production for the United States and Canada, those who don't die from the eruption will starve in the coming months. It could also alter weather patterns, bringing on a worldwide winter for at least the next two, perhaps three years."

Well. No wonder this was so damn important. That's one hell of a move.

"Leviathan?" I demanded.

Dragon paused. "Endbringer prediction isn't simple...so far, eighty percent chance he's heading for Britain. Still calculating landing site..."

I paused for a moment. I had a faint feeling I knew where he'd be going. "Definitely Britain. He's going to sink the damn island."

Dragon twisted her head to look directly at me. "That's a high possibility, but why?"

I shook my head. "They're the first ones who bought a portal from me. The Endbringers always attacked that which gave people hope. If he was heading for here, or America, I'd be pretty sure he'd be hitting Brockton Bay. I don't know where they took the portal, though."

Apostle nodded. "The gods are held and sealed within weapons programmed by the Abomination Dracul managed to kill. Their programming is set to keep a species held on-world, trapped, to help collect information to help them evolve. It...improvised, from what I know, to hold the gods. The act was a rush-job, they were never intended to be let loose like this. Presumably the Abomination would have refined things later on, but as it is, the weapon is drawing upon Lotan's power to cause carnage. Lotan doesn't have any choice. Britain's working on trying to get off-world, so he _has_ to strike there." He looked at Dragon. "We need to split our forces. Heavy Blasters, radiation neutralizers, firefighters on Behemoth. Shielders and force-fields on Leviathan. Hopefully the equipment we have and the aid will help."

Chronos nodded. "I will aid against Lotan."

"And I." Gaia spoke, her voice filled with determination. "We must end the acts of our wayward brothers."

Contessa looked at me. "We must prioritize. Both targets will mean far too much damage if either Endbringer destroys it. We may be able to handle the disaster of one if we pour our resources into destroying the other. But it becomes far less certain if we split our forces."

Now I was beginning to grasp just what Cauldron had been going through over the years. If I went after Behemoth, and Leviathan destroyed Britain, that meant sixty million dead and a lot of my work dashed. The other choice meant a hundred million dead and the world's strongest nation crippled. And that was just assuming we simply drove them off.

Still. We could kill them. It was just insanely difficult.

I got to my feet. "We needed two gods to break one before. But we're a lot better prepared now, and we've got a lot of magic to throw at them. I'll handle Leviathan." I looked to Dragon. "Think our preparations will be enough for Behemoth?"

Resolutely, Dragon nodded. "Perhaps. I dislike spreading out like this. Leviathan's bad enough. Behemoth, too? We can't afford to spread out, but they're forcing our hands." She paused for a moment, then nodded resolutely. "I will be needed to drop off Atlas in Behemoth's path. Hopefully we can either drive him back or end him quickly enough for me to aid with Leviathan."

I nodded. "Right. And if we manage to take Leviathan down fast enough, I'll rush to aid with Behemoth. Not much choice, here."

Apostle had a faint smile on his lips. "I've been preparing, too. We'll stop them."

* * *

It was night at Swansea. It had once been one of the more prosperous cities in the United Kingdom, and the second largest city in Wales. From where we were staging at the city's university campus, I was overcome for a moment at what had been lost. It was plain to see this had been a prosperous campus once, bustling, busy. The kind of place my mom wanted to teach, once upon a time. Had I been a bit older, and...alive, I might have liked to study here, in its heyday. Nowadays though, the place wasn't in the greatest shape. The buildings were weather-worn, crumbling somewhat. The university had been abandoned after the Simurgh hit London and created so many knock-on effects from that attack that the United Kingdom was _still_ feeling it. Swansea University had been bombed by a London citizen and thereafter closed from structural damage, and nobody had the time or money to rebuild it.

Even at a remove, even at a great distance, this screwed-up world of ours seemed to conspire to dash hopes and break dreams.

Strider deposited capes in groups into the middle of the campus parking lot. I, on the other hand, left portals open in twenty major cities, mostly just following the list that Dragon had given me, also placing an exit portal in Wyoming for the Behemoth battle. The result? We had a hundred capes here _at least,_ and more were arriving in fits and spurts every minute or so.

At the front of the campus was a box with familiar-looking armbands. What was _less_ familiar was the amulet fused into the front. It made sense, everyone who took one would be protected somewhat by Light Magic as they fought, but it wouldn't do _me_ any favors. I took an armband, ripped the amulet off, and slipped it around my right arm. Then I licked my fingers, because that actually hurt my fingertips a little.

The armband chirped. _"State identity for the database."_

"Scarlet Dragon." I pressed the button to confirm.

" _Scarlet Dragon confirmed. Scarlet Dragon deceased, NC-6."_

I frowned. Slapped it. "I'm not dead, nitwit." Undead, maybe.

" _Recalibrating. Scarlet Dragon entered."_

I saw Gaia looking at me with amusement. I chucked an armband at her, and she caught it, slipping it on without complaint.

Chronos floated to the side of the campus, lifting a hand. There was a rippling, a distortion, and suddenly I was looking through it to... somewhere. Then twelve people strode through, wearing gray, armored bodysuits, and no masks. Some of them were armed, one with a pistol, another with a rifle, and the rest had daggers and shortswords.

My jaw dropped open. I recognized the young woman at the lead of the group. Pretty, blonde, and I had seen her last in the middle of a Gray Boy timeloop. Sarah Kissinger. I let myself drift to the ground and walked up to her. I put on a smile. "Well, this is unexpected. Glad you could make it. I just learned about you getting out."

Sarah nodded. "Wish it could be under better circumstances. Not how I wanted to run just after making my debut, but at least I'm not fighting against a couple of superpowered inbreeding rednecks. Again."

A woman behind her with bright blue hair broke out in a grin. "Oh come on, that was like, two weeks ago."

The man with the rifle coughed. "Actually, that was about thirty minutes ago."

She paused. "Really? Huh. I lost track of time."

The entire gray-clad group groaned. The man with the pistol, his black hair streaked with grey, spoke with exasperation. "Really, Robin, you had to say that?"

Chronos cleared his throat. At least, he made the right sounds, I wasn't sure he _had_ a throat. "We have work to prepare for. I will be working to slow the beast. The rest of you must act where needed."

Robin grinned. "Right, S&R are all mine." She zipped off, literally at blinding speed.

Sarah shook her head. "Right, doubling up. Anyway, rest of us will help shield. We can try and pin him, but we know he's tricky. We've been trying to prepare for this since we were freed from our personal hells."

I nodded. Taking a moment to look around, I spotted a few familiar masks in the gathering crowd. Narwhal stood next to Miss Militia, the two seemingly engrossed in conversation. Miss Militia had a bandolier of grenades wrapped around her body. Dauntless was next to her, quietly chatting. Clockblocker and Paladin stood there, her right hand drifting over the hilt of the whip on her belt. Alucard stood next to her, wearing his midnight blue armor, a blue cape hanging from his shoulders. I moved next to them, my voice quiet. "Good to see you guys here. Guessing the rest are heading to Behemoth?"

Paladin bit her lip. "Not all of the Brockton Protectorate made it, and the rest are heading where they need to go. The rest of the Wards aren't coming."

"Yeah, kinda sucks." Clockblocker said. "Least I've got a good reason, not too many people around that could buy time for the docs and surgeons to get to work. I ain't about to run away when it comes to this stuff."

Paladin shrugged at him. "We've been split up based on powers. We're going to be working as medics, as much as we can. I've been working on producing enough amulets for the fight, but there's only a few ways to charge them, and we can't really set something up because Leviathan can just come right in and smash it."

Alucard nodded. "This will be difficult." His hand drifted down to the hilt of the blade on his hip. "However, this is not the first time I have battled a god, though admittedly said god is more than Lotan was. I will fight as I can, though it will be difficult."

I smiled and patted his shoulder. "Thanks for being here." I felt my wings twitch as the wind began to pick up, and the air became both cool and moist.

Alexandria moved to the front of the crowd, raising her hands. "Thank you all for coming. This situation is unusual. Normally, Legend is giving this speech, but he is preparing for the battle with Behemoth in Wyoming. We have an estimated ten minutes before Leviathan arrives. We're fairly sure he's going to strike Britain as a whole, and we're well aware that he's capable of destroying the entire island, but his landing point is estimated to be right here. Normally, we split battles with Leviathan into hard and soft targets. Hard is where we fight him, try to pin him down and buy time for Scion's arrival. Soft targets are where we cannot afford to do this. Swansea and Swansea Bay is not ideal, as this region has all the markings of a soft target."

She lifted her head, looking out at the crowd. "However, this time we come prepared. Protectorate members, you've been outfitted with systems built by Dragon to help protect you. For the villains volunteering to assist, your armbands have been upgraded with the same systems. Should you take an injury, they will attempt to heal you and get you back in the fight." She made a gesture at her side at another cape, one wearing a silver and gold set of armor, a massive weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and a cannon resting on his shoulder.

The cape took the cue. "I am Chevalier, you might know me from Philadelphia. We've all got weapons to help us do damage to Leviathan." Suddenly, his blade was on fire, burning with _my_ power, with Hellfire. "Scarlet Dragon has given us materials to work with, allowing us to draw on the same powers that she used to destroy the Simurgh."

I fought to keep from shifting on my feet as glances suddenly turned my way.

Chevalier gestured at the front of the crowd, where another box lay. "There are amulets here that will help channel that same power, allow you all to use it against Leviathan. They have limited charge, but they should be enough. Use them against him. What we're looking for is a core in Leviathan, it's going to be buried underneath the densest layers of flesh inside him. Break that core, and we break the Endbringer."

Alexandria nodded as she took an amulet herself, letting it fall around her neck. A moment later, she flared with red Hellfire, before the pyrotechnics faded. "I won't lie. This will be dangerous. Even on a good day, we lose people. But we have the means. We have the knowledge. We have the target. We know how to kill them. We have veterans of many Endbringer battles here today, and we have more hands today than I've _ever_ seen ready to fight. We can kill him. Let's make this the last day the Endbringers plagued our world. Let us send them both back to the pits of Hell they came from!"

There was a cheer from a man in power armor near the front. Then another, then another, voices in the crowd taking up the call. As they did, light and fire began to flare, blue and red alike, Light and Hellfire being called upon by the forces ready to act.

Then there was a crack of thunder, and it began to rain. Gently at first, but soon the drops came in, thick and fat.

I lifted myself off the ground, moving to the front of the crowd. I called upon the Void Sword, to help calm my nerves. I kind of needed it, because every eye was on me, now.

Swallowing my nervousness, I looked out over them, meeting the eyes and faceplates of every cape there. "For twenty years, you have all fought to save what was important. For twenty years, you have fought unending battles against the Endbringers, to fight for a hope of a better future. For twenty years, you have acted and prayed for help from any god that might hear you."

I lifted the Void Sword and pointed it at the heavens. "I have heard you. I am the Lady of Darkness, matched only by one other god. I am here to fight alongside you. I am here to end the Endbringer. I have heard your prayers! I have heard your wants! I will aid you in this war against civilization's end. I am the Scarlet Dragon."

I lifted my empty hand. "And the storm..." I concentrated, sending my power up and outward. There was resistance. Leviathan was fighting me, even from here. Even hundreds of miles distant.

Still, I pushed my power into the storm, grasping it with an iron will. "Is."

Lightning gathered in my hand, and I thrust it into the sky. "Mine."

My lightning arced upward, racing through the forming stormclouds above. The storm, so helpfully provided by Leviathan, amplified by my magic, and now under my will, built up. The rain halted as I forced the clouds to spend its energy in a different way. Lightning began racing through it, running in sheets. I could feel Leviathan attempting to take back control, but it was _mine._

Darkness and Light were the strongest of the gods for a reason, after all. The storm was _my_ dominion. Lord of the Sea or not, he was not Lord of the Storm. For once, it would be _our_ weapon, not simply his.

I looked out toward the bay. A rolling darkness began to rise from the sea, as the first of many waves began to come in. Just faintly, I could see a figure riding the wave, surfing upon it almost without a care. Leviathan, three stories tall and moving absurdly fast. We had only seconds.

" _Shields!"_ Alexandria yelled.

Forcefields sprang up to protect the gathered capes. Strider moved, teleporting nearly half the crowd in one instant. I kept my concentration, building my strength.

I was left behind, though that was fine by me. The campus was now enclosed by a shimmering forcefield, mostly transluscent. I let my power build in the storm.

The wave struck the shield. It buckled, but held, and an instant later Leviathan slammed into it, his claws scraping upon the surface, forcing a small but powerful amount of water through the minuscule gaps opened by his assault.

I roared and slammed my left fist down into the ground.

The storm unleashed its entire built-up energy in one burst, in one instant, striking Leviathan with a single bolt of lightning powerful enough to feed the United States' energy requirements for a week.

Leviathan went skidding, slamming through one of the defunct campus buildings and reducing it to rubble. The shields went down as Strider took the remaining vulnerable capes away from the campus itself.

I stepped forward, calling upon my power and shifted into my dragon shape. I roared in challenge, igniting my forelegs in Hellfire.

Quick as a bullet, Leviathan righted himself and zipped toward me, his skin smoking. His outstretched arm caught in mine, ripping into my flesh even as my fire seared his.

The battle was joined.


	92. Interlude: War part 1

A/N: This will be difficult. But I'm going to fight to make it awesome.

* * *

"Estimation!?" Legend barked.

"Three minutes." Eidolon... no, David, called back. "He's coming up fast, he'll break the surface right there." He pointed at the winding highway. The tarmac was already cracking, a hiss of steam escaping the ruptured earth beneath.

It was almost ideal, really. An Endbringer battle out in the middle of nowhere. No collateral damage, no need to preserve a city, no civilians to get out of the way. All that was here was miles of trees, grass, and the occasional bear. The only problem was that Yellowstone was a far, far more dangerous target than anything Behemoth had ever targeted before. The damage done by a destroyed nuclear plant compared to a Yellowstone eruption would be comparing a firecracker to a Tsar Bomba.

Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the stakes couldn't be higher. Either attack would cripple the planet. Either attack would kill millions, and the scale was so large that evacuation was just impossible. The kill zone covered four states, and while they weren't the most populated states in the union, that was more than enough. If Behemoth won here, nobody who came would be walking away.

Dragon appeared in a flash of light. Almost instinctively, Legend touched the amulets resting around his neck. Both Dragon's power, and Scarlet's at the same time. Hopefully, it would help against Behemoth. He gave the golden suit a nod. "Dragon, glad you could join us."

Dragon nodded in return, her voice calm. "Glad to be here. I need sixty seconds."

David nodded. "You'll have them."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Dragon moved over, closer to the crack in the road. The air above it was now rippling with heat.

Legend clenched his teeth together. He _always_ hated battling Behemoth. He always hated to watch brave men and women die to the beast.

"We'll get him, Legend. We'll stop him from hurting anyone ever again." David spoke quietly.

Legend shot his friend a glance. David seemed to be hovering there, waiting. Preparing. Over the years, Legend had seen his friend become more and more desperate as the Endbringers kept coming, his powers weakening further with every battle. Now his friend seemed to be at peace, somehow. It would have been good to see, had the situation not been so dire.

"I damn well hope so. We ever going to talk?" Legend said, his fingers grasping one of the amulets wrapped around his neck.

"After this, hopefully." David said, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "I've got a lot to tell you. You're not going to like it, but it needs to be said. Right now, though, this is more important."

Legend nodded. He didn't like it, but now, of all times, wouldn't be the best time to get stuck in personal matters.

There were short flares of blue light, and various models of Dragon suits began to appear around the battlefield. Shield model prototypes. Cryo-equipped suits. There were a number of them with large containment tanks on their backs. Definitely not flight-capable, but it was plain for his power-enhanced eyes to see what they were for.

Warning: Liquid Nitrogen was not difficult to figure out. Not up against Behemoth. Anything that could mitigate the heat and flame that accompanied the first Endbringer was welcome.

Five miles away from the breach in the road, between Behemoth's opening site and Yellowstone, gathered the Protectorate. Neptune from Brockton Bay. Rime from Los Angeles, her mechanical left arm outfitted with a shield made of ice. Frostbite from Miami, though Legend hadn't really expected _that_ blue-skinned villain, especially since she had been running from New Orleans the last he'd heard and lying low. Given the occasion, though... it was a chance to end the Endbringer.

Despite everything, with a hundred and fifty heroes and villains here, with the powers prepared, it was hopeful. From the black portal that Scarlet Dragon had left behind, more capes were coming through, one or two every minute. The simple portal network was an extraordinary boon. Usually an Endbringer battle had a few capes who came in from other cities, shored up by those who lived at the city that was attacked. Here? There was no city nearby, no native defenders. It was _only_ those who were willing to come in and help. And it was still a larger number than Legend had ever seen, _even with_ their numbers divided by the need to deal with Leviathan at the same time. Few Endbringer battles had this many hands helping, even _with_ things divided between both attacks. It was just required. Neither Endbringer could be left unattended.

An obsidian, clawed hand burst from the road. The ground shifted and shuddered underneath Behemoth's enormous weight as he pulled himself up from the earth, lava pouring from his neck and shoulders in rivulets. The eldest Endbringer paused for a moment, looking around.

Then he roared, and began to glow red. Trees alongside the highway burst into flame. Legend nearly lost sight of Behemoth in the sudden smoke. The ground shuddered as he began to walk, directly in the direction of Yellowstone.

" _Radiation levels spiking. Recommend withdrawal to safe distance in three minutes."_ His armband cheerfully informed him. Legend _also_ felt warm. He nearly lost his concentration as a gentle blue light enveloped him, both protecting him from the sudden waves of heat and making him feel stronger, _energized_. Honestly, Legend hadn't felt this good in years.

Dragon's voice came over the armband. _"The system should help with radiation exposure. Keep at range, but it should help prevent cell damage for a long period. Just don't get close, I'm not sure how well it will deal with large amounts of radiation."_

That was nice to know.

Then there was a blue glow, just outside the ring of smoke and fire. A very _big_ blue glow.

Behemoth paused. He looked up at the figure that was larger than himself. Shining with gold and blue, the immense humanoid figure stepped forward, the ground shuddering underneath each step. It was slow, ponderous, but just as unstoppable as Behemoth himself. Ice formed on its surface, soaking in the heat pouring off Behemoth and evaporating almost instantly, only to be replenished from beneath.

Behemoth _roared_ , the sound enough to crack the pavement, shatter the already-burning trees at the roadside, and send the miles-distant capes stumbling.

The great construct was unfazed. In response, Atlas clenched his fist. A ten foot long blade dropped out from a slot on the arm, and it glowed a crystalline blue. Ice formed upon its surface, forming the edges of the blade, while the rest of it was surrounded in a gray haze that sputtered and sparked in the thousand-degree heated air pouring from Behemoth. Atlas swung the weapon, aiming for the beast's face.

Behemoth caught it in a rocky hand, but where the blade touched obsidian stone, ice formed. The blade bit into the crystalline flesh somewhat, but not deep.

Atlas pulled back his left fist and slammed it into Behemoth's chin. The Endbringer didn't even flinch, but the ground rumbled with the force of the blow. That damned dynakinesis always made battles with Behemoth so difficult.

Legend lifted his hand, awaiting the signal. "Apostle?" He spoke, giving a glance to his friend.

David also had a hand raised, pointing at Behemoth. "Wait for it."

Then there was another flare of blue light. Behemoth roared once more, whether in agony or rage, it was impossible to say. It took a moment for Legend to manage to see the new figure through the smoke, but it was enough.

A thirty foot tall _golden_ dragon, bright blue jetstream wings emerging from its back. A dragon that promptly grasped Behemoth's left arm, slowly but surely pulling the Endbringer out of position. Behemoth then took a strike from Atlas, the bus-sized arm forcing the Endbringer to stumble.

" _All units, open fire!"_ Dragon's voice echoed over the armbands.

Legend unleashed his lasers, his power enhanced by Dragon's own... Tinkertech? Whatever it was. The beams, tuned to sap heat away from its target, normally did small amounts of damage to Behemoth, scoring inches into his dense, burning flesh.

This time, they scored holes at least a foot deep into his hide.

Then at his side, there was a _burst._ David had unleashed his attack. The air rippled as it streaked out toward Behemoth, the energy itself invisible to the eye.

The effect, however, was devastating. It struck Behemoth's arm, caught in the dragon's grip, right at the shoulder. There was a flash of blue, then black, and the arm was separated from Behemoth's torso with a gush of heat and lava, the road beneath the three massive figures bursting into flame.

Behemoth paused, seeming to focus on the wound in shock. That let the gathered capes get a few more hits in.

Then he _roared,_ turned, and with his remaining arm, slammed _both_ the golden dragon and Atlas away in a single blow, moving faster than he'd ever been seen doing before. The pair went reeling, the dragon holding Behemoth's arm as if it was an oversized club. Atlas went stumbling, the building-sized mech nearly falling off its feet. Still, it sucked in heat, regained its balance, and marched on Behemoth, Armsmaster's voice echoing over the armbands.

" _Blasters, pull back! Radiation levels are extreme, pull back now! I'll tie him up, snipe the bastard!"_

Legend's own armband chirped helpfully. _"Radiation spiking. Recommend immediate withdrawal. Fatal dose in thirty seconds."_

Behemoth roared once more, and for six miles around, every tree burst into flame. The defenders, having believed they were safe at that range, began to scream.

" _Frostbite deceased, LN-3, Alpha deceased, LN-4, Panzerfaust deceased, LM-7..."_

* * *

The rain had halted.

It was a weird thing to think about, in the middle of a battle, but against Leviathan, that was unprecedented. Narwhal could remember each time she'd joined the fight against Leviathan, but it had always, _always,_ rained in every battle.

But not this time. It barely mattered, there was water pouring off of Leviathan, spraying in all directions. But mostly forward at the other large figure on the battlefield, scything in high-pressure jets.

The dark red dragon weathered the hits, the jets scoring armored flesh and blood from the dragon's body. Still, the damage was small, and the dragon did not falter. She charged, not stomping over the ground but _flowing_ over it, as if she needed no contact with the ground at all.

Leviathan simply skated out of the way, water flowing in an aftershock. His afterimage didn't move in the same direction, however, it rushed out to meet the Scarlet Dragon.

The dragon merely encased herself in flame, and just for a moment, it was perfect. An avatar of draconic flame standing against the ocean's wrath.

Then the water exploded into steam. Narwhal quickly snapped up a forcefield to protect herself and the four with her, grimacing in concentration.

"We merely need a moment." The white-haired man behind her said.

Leviathan charged, clashing with the flaming dragon, and the two traded blows that shuddered the earth. If there had been any intact windows anywhere near, they would have shattered from the concussive force. Even the concrete of the old buildings nearby were vibrating with each hit.

"I thought you said he would be slowed down!" Narwhal yelled, striving to make herself heard over the crashing water and hissing steam.

"I _am_ slowing him down!" The black, hovering figure yelled with annoyance. "I have slowed Leviathan down thirty times! He experiences one second for every _thirty_ we do!"

Paladin twirled the handle of her whip, the metal chain clinking. "Doesn't look that slow to me!"

Narwhal had to privately agree. If anything, it looked like Leviathan was moving _faster._ Though the water streaking off of him was acting...oddly. It moved in fits and spurts, individual drops hovering in the air for moments before they fell. "Any bright ideas?!" She yelled.

The green-haired woman nodded. "I will need a moment."

There was a streak in the air as a hovering figure appeared above the two warring giants, flaring with the distinctive rockets of power armor. Lasers, bullets and rockets streaked out, burning with the same flame that covered the dragon. They struck Leviathan, sinking deep into the Endbringer's body, making the massive beast flinch. Almost casually, quick as a lightning bolt, a burst of water spurted from Leviathan's face, impacting with the cape.

Or rather, _bisecting_ the cape. Armor fell in several pieces, along with chunks of bone and gore.

" _Galatea deceased, NC-6."_

Green-hair spoke. "Now. Pin him if you can."

Narwhal dropped her shield, then gripped the amulet hanging from her neck. The forcefields covering her body burst into unnatural flame, causing her no harm.

The circular-shaped forcefield she manifested at Leviathan's neck, on the other hand, was far more dangerous to the Endbringer. Burning with flame, the field, already more than capable of tearing into an Endbringer, cut without resistance and sliced off his head.

Leviathan reared back for a moment, then with a burst of speed, bodychecked into the burning dragon in front of him. The blow made the air itself quiver, and the dragon was launched backward, almost immediately lost in the darkness of the storm-filled night.

The white-haired man charged forward, flowing over the water-soaked pavement as easily as the dragon had moments before. Paladin charged right beside him, her boots flaring with blue light.

Leviathan seemed to sense the incoming threats, water lancing out in high-pressure jets. Narwhal brought up a shield to protect the pair, and the sheer effort of resisting all that force made her stagger.

Too late, she saw the third jet coming right at her. Even as the shield was forming, though, another figure appeared right beside her. One of the gray-suited women who came through with the group. She lifted a hand, and the jet suddenly impacted with an impervious barrier of air.

"Hi!" She said perkily. "I'm Robin, good to meet ya. Tell you what, you keep tearing at him with those fields of yours, I'll keep you alive. Hang on a sec." The air rippled for a moment, and then things slowed down outside the bubble.

The fat, black figure spoke with unmistakable pride. "Well done, Robin."

She grinned. "Thanks boss. Keep moving, I got this." She looked at Narwhal with a grin. "Both of us make it out of here, you buy me dinner for this."

Narwhal couldn't help but make a helpless laugh. "Deal."

The black figure nodded and lifted himself out of the sphere of altered time, his form seeming to stay in synch with them despite leaving the bubble.

As the white-haired man and Paladin drew near to Leviathan, in slow-motion, the Endbringer lifted a hand. _Finally_ Narwhal could see him moving slowly to her perceptions, but he was still frighteningly quick. Leviathan's clawed left hand swept at him, but _almost_ as quickly, he drew the sword at his side and cut in a single motion as the hand approached, the sword covered in blue flames and a gray haze.

Even with everything slowed down as they were, the sound of the impact was jarring. Leviathan's hand came away from his arm almost without resistance. Just before the arm itself could impact him, the green-haired woman behind Narwhal and Robin clapped. Concrete beneath Leviathan suddenly rolled, making the Endbringer stumble off-balance.

Paladin took the opportunity, slinging her whip out and catching it on Leviathan's right shoulder. Holding the hilt in her hand, it pulled her into the air. A jet of water came her way, but one of Narwhal's forcefields intercepted it, diverting the flow directly into the ground. Concrete was bored into, ripping into chunks.

Paladin held onto the chain, swinging herself around on the arm until she was standing on his shoulder, the whip curled three times around the arm. She gripped the chain with her left arm, the weapon bursting into white flame. As Leviathan stumbled, she jumped off his shoulder, the chain wrapping tight. It dug in deep, but caught several layers in, catching on the Endbringer's near-invulnerable bone.

Paladin twisted her wrist, and the whip came loose. Leviathan swung his right arm at her, seemingly unhindered despite the deep wound. She rolled along the ground, barely avoiding the blow itself, though water-shadow from the movement was enough to knock her off her feet and send her stumbling. As he tried to follow-up and kill the Ward, Narwhal manifested a burning forcefield and struck it at that weakened spot, neatly severing the Endbringer's arm. The motion sent the arm flying off to the side, lost in the darkness and the water-filled battlefield.

Leviathan paused for an instant, as if shocked at the damage. Headless, handless, armless, the Endbringer turned toward the charging Paladin, water forming up to strike the Ward down. Paladin slung out her whip and caught an exposed concrete rebar, using it to swing out of the charging Endbringer's path.

That, however, left it charging right at Narwhal, Robin, and Gaia. Narwhal formed a wedge-shaped shield, its burning form protecting the group. The Endbringer struck the shield, his flesh sizzling at the contact.

It sprung away, speeding further north. Voices came over Narwhal's armband, distorted and slowed.

Robin grasped Narwhal's arm. "He's moving further inland! We can keep up, come on!"

Gaia growled. "He is attempting to tear into the island underneath the shoreline. I can sense it. I am required here to ensure he doesn't tear the earth out from under us. I will deal with the waves."

With a nod, Narwhal and Robin joined hands. Narwhal formed a non-flaming forcefield on the ground, stepping onto it, using it as a mobile platform. With a thought, she lifted herself and her new partner into the air, speeding after Leviathan. Even with the distorted flow of time, it was difficult to keep up, chasing after the distant, dark form of the second Endbringer.

Then the sky lit up with lightning, and a large crackling form smashed into Leviathan, making the Endbringer roll and stumble through the grassy fields, stirring up mud. Even as Leviathan righted itself, the red dragon, covered with and crackling in lightning, drove a clawed hand into Leviathan's chest with a roar. Then the Endbringer was covered in electricity, lighting up the battle's position for miles around.

Even as Narwhal got near, the night sky suddenly flared with another color. Not the red of the unnatural flame, not the blue of lightning.

Gold, from a single small figure, flaring like a second sun, flying in from the east. Narwhal couldn't help but smile. This battle was already won.

Scion had arrived.


	93. Interlude: War part 2

A/N: Your tears and shinies sustain me. Give them to me.

* * *

Colin growled. "Keep those scans going! Devote fifty percent of computer time to it!"

" _Acknowledged."_

His control center was rather impressive. Sophisticated computers feeding data into and from Atlas, telling him everything he needed to know to control the machine. Even insulated as he was, as safe as it was possible to be, he still fought to keep the massive hybrid of technology and magic on its feet. He still didn't like classifying anything as 'magic' but it was rather pedantic at this point.

Whatever it was, it was effective. Colin wasn't about to argue with results.

Behemoth leveraged his single remaining arm against Atlas, the Endbringer's roar enough to make the mechanical titan vibrate despite the shielding. Sensor systems shorted out. Others flickered, then compensated, coming back on-line as Armsmaster slammed a massive fist into Behemoth's face, forcing the Endbringer to stumble backward.

Atlas' sensors picked up a rather impressive trans-Lawrencium shell exploding on Behemoth's chest. That was something of a shame, however, as something _that_ dense _should_ have pierced through just about anything. Behemoth weathered the blow, though it did make him flinch for a moment, a fresh welt and lava pouring out from the wound. He lifted his head, and a lightning bolt streaked out from him, the foot-wide bolt streaking out into the distance. It struck far further than Behemoth had ever shot one before. A moment later, the Tinkertech tank that fired the shell vaporized.

" _Death Machine deceased, LM-9, Longshoreman deceased, LM-9, Glacier deceased, LM-9."_

Damn. That was a decent chunk of the firefighting effort just slain in an instant.

Atlas rumbled as Behemoth slammed into it. The systems blared in warning. _"Internal temperature rising. Energy reserves at sixty percent. Right arm functionality reduced by thirty percent. Left leg reduced in functionality by thirteen percent. Nanothorn material reserve at sixty-eight percent."_

Colin grit his teeth. "Anything _not_ damaged?"

" _Air conditioning is fully functional."_

"Great, the one system I _don't_ need." Colin tried _very_ hard not to growl in frustration. The screens in front of him gave him a great deal of information. Most of them, however were taken up with a view of Behemoth, while others were showing blackness of static as the sensors were destroyed by blows or lava. Though Atlas was actually taller, Behemoth was being even more difficult to fight than anticipated. The radiation alone was pushing back the defenders. Only a few were able to try and engage the Herokiller at six miles away. Further, with the radiation output increasing every second. The rest were stuck just trying to prevent the entire forest from going up in flames. 'Lord of Fire', indeed.

Lasers, gravitational effects, plasma beams, even a tree was launched and struck the Endbringer. Still, even lacking an arm, Behemoth seemed to be determined. He kept straining to move, to head toward the Yellowstone caldera. He hadn't made much progress toward his target, though. Colin and Dragon had made sure of that.

Behemoth roared again, only for Colin to steer Atlas' left fist into that maw with a punch. The Endbringer thrashed, lava spilling onto the arm, almost instantly freezing into hardened rock on contact with the systems charged up with Void magic.

" _Fifty-eight percent reserves remaining."_

Dragon was still holding Behemoth's severed arm. Her form _blazed_ with light, white fire coating the severed limb. She swung the arm around like an oversized bat, smashing it into Behemoth's chest and forcing the Endbringer to stagger.

Showing that same unexpected speed, he turned with a roar, smashing his own severed arm out of Dragon's grip. With a backhand, Dragon went crashing through the burning trees, her roar of pain making his heart clench.

Colin grit his teeth. "All available power to the arms."

" _Acknowledged."_

Colin shifted the controls, the motion translating to the motions of the mechanical monstrosity he was controlling. There was resistance, telling of the damage Atlas had taken, but it didn't hamper Colin's desire enough to stop him.

And what he desired, more than anything, was to pound Behemoth's face in. Atlas responded to his will, slamming the massive ice-coated fist into Behemoth's maw, the Endbringer taking the hit easily. The ground rumbled as the kinetic impact was redistributed into the earth. The follow-up hit had the exact same lack of effect, the eldest Endbringer simply tanking the hit without injury.

The energy was deflected right into Atlas, and the camera views twisted and whirled sickeningly as the titan was thrown through the inferno of burning trees and torn-up earth. It took long minutes for Colin to check the readouts, get Atlas to get its hands and feet underneath itself, and rise. The ablative ice armor was the only reason the whole thing wasn't on fire, but even the magic that powered it wouldn't last forever. Smoke-filled sky and burning embers dominated his viewscreens as he locked back onto Behemoth.

" _Fifty percent reserves remaining. Endbringer is now seven point four miles from caldera border."_

Trees crashed to the ground as Colin forced Atlas into a kneeling position, the immense machine fighting gravity every step of the way. While he was distracted, and Dragon trying to recover herself, her suits took up positions around the Endbringer and were blasting it with as many cryogenic beams as possible, trying to slow and cool Behemoth down. They'd discovered that years ago, cryogenic effects were among the few things Behemoth couldn't straight-up reflect or counter. He manipulated energy in all its forms. It was difficult to manipulate an effect that _removed_ energy. The only problem was they did so very little damage to the Herokiller. He always had plenty of heat to spare.

The air rippled, and there was a sudden _burst._ Apostle launched another attack, and Behemoth stumbled, his right leg reduced to crystalline bone. He trembled on his feet, fell, supporting himself with his remaining arm. Behemoth didn't take kindly to that. He _flared,_ flame covering his entire body, and the radiation levels climbed even higher on Colin's readouts.

" _Warhead deceased, LM-9, Coldsnap deceased, LN-8, Blast deceased, LN-8, Fireteam deceased, LN-7, Fireteam deceased, LM-10, Fireteam deceased, KM-10."_

The other effects streaking in, lasers, missiles, even a positron beam, if the radiation levels were any indication, were scoring into Behemoth's hide, but not penetrating very deeply. Legend's lasers were the exception, _those_ were penetrating a foot or more into Behemoth's rocky skin, but even those weren't hampering the Endbringer much. It was one of the worst things about fighting Behemoth. He would always take and redirect the most damaging attacks back outward, thus turning every battle into a battle of attrition while the defenders struggled to handle the energy from their own efforts to fight him off.

Then there was a flash of blue light. Dragon reappeared, right behind Behemoth, roaring in draconic rage. Behemoth simply flared, lightning springing from his horns, but the lightning _curved_ away from Dragon's head and caught in her hand. With shining teeth bared, she turned the bolt as if it were a physical spear and plunged it right through Behemoth's body. Lightning coursed over the Endbringer, lava and crystalline material spraying from the hideous wound. Behemoth roared in agony.

" _Analysis complete. Density is greatest in the head region."_

Colin grinned and thumbed his radio. "Aim for the head." He had Atlas stop for a brief moment and picked up Behemoth's severed arm. The severed appendage dragged on the ground as he approached. Behemoth tried to swipe at Dragon, his movements hampered by his missing limbs. Dragon danced around his swipes and made quick, penetrating strikes with her own divine power, beams of light searing through Behemoth's crystalline flesh. They were rending deep wounds through Behemoth's remaining leg, his chest, working to stall and disable the beast.

Behemoth turned his head just in time to get smacked across the rocky face by his own severed arm. Colin's follow-up stabbed the long blade attached to Atlas' right arm through the wound opened by Dragon. Lava and heat spilled out as he pulled the blade upwards, the ever-increasing resistance to the effort telling Colin he was on the right track. Get to the core. Expose the core. Break the core. Break the Endbringer.

"Let's see how you like blade number _ten_."

* * *

Alexandria grit her teeth.

Despite Strider's quick action, despite Scarlet's immediate engagement with Leviathan, it all went to hell almost as soon as the main group reappeared half a mile further inland. Shields went up to help resist and break up the initial tidal wave, and more importantly protect those capes that couldn't take the hit. Sufficiently quickly moving water hit like concrete, and there weren't very many fighters who could take a hit like that, and thus they relied on those who could protect them from the impact.

At the moment, it was worse than normal. The wave had swept over the main group, which was quickly shielded, but the wave hadn't dissipated. It simply held over the group, entrapped them all within a force-field dome put up by the various shielding capes, and kept nearly the entire group of sixty in this group trapped. And worse, Leviathan was pressing on the shield from one side, forcing her to press back against thousands of tons of water, lest the dome skid, hit uneven ground, and let the water rush in and kill the group.

"Strider!" She yelled.

"Two seconds!" He yelled back, the former Ward and current independent straining to let himself be heard. "Looking for a bit of high ground!"

The dome shifted slightly. A trickle of water managed to get underneath it, spurting upwards, aiming directly for her face. Alexandria shifted her head, growling as it sprayed over the side of her helmet. The water bent, trying to seek her mouth. Other streams went out, scything though some of the capes, while others braced themselves with armor and their own protections.

" _Muffet down, NB-4, Dwarfstar down, NB-4, Burgomistr deceased, NB-4."_

The fucker was trying to drown her. _Was_ drowning and tearing apart others. He'd tried before, on several occasions, but not like _this._ It was widely known Leviathan was a macrohydrokinetic. Trying to assassinate specific people in specific ways with his power, _that_ was unusual. Then there was the sudden sickening _twist_ and Alexandria found herself on a nearby hilltop, the shield falling as their makers were disoriented.

Off in the distance, she could see flashes of the fight. Leviathan slammed into Scarlet hard enough to send the dragon flying, uncontrolled and in a ballistic arc. Narwhal, Paladin, Alucard and Gaia were all moving very quickly, while Leviathan was moving... oddly, although still absurdly quickly. Blades made of forcefields and flame sprung into existence, tearing into Leviathan and ripping off the Endbringer's head in a few short seconds.

It was astonishing. The only one to inflict such damage on an Endbringer was Scion, and here Narwhal managed with the combination of magic and her own power. It was enough to make Alexandria's chest feel warm with _hope._

Alexandria started as a gray-clad figure appeared at her side. "I can pin him, but I need to get close. Then you can work on finishing him."

Sarah Kissinger.

Alexandria hissed. "Don't do that."

She had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry. You get used to manipulating time. Especially after getting fucked by it for twenty years." Sarah extended her hand.

Alexandria took it, and the furious battle below _slowed._ Carefully, Alexandria took the seeming teenager in her arms and they flew closer to Leviathan, setting down on the rooftop of the largest building on the campus.

Alexandria was about to take off once again, smash into Leviathan, when Scarlet beat her to it. The form of the dragon smashed into the damaged Endbringer, his normally fearsome form less so with it lacking a head, an arm, and a hand. Any normal creature would be dead already. Leviathan just seemed pissed off.

The Endbringer was slammed back, Scarlet's claws buried within its chest. Lightning abruptly covered the form of Leviathan, making the Endbringer shudder and writhe. Intellectually, Alexandria knew it shouldn't have worked. Endbringers had shaken off nuclear weapons before. Somehow, the magic was managing to get past the resistance Leviathan had, allowing them to cause much more damage than they'd ever managed on their own before. It was still a struggle, still a desperate battle, but it was a _battle_ and not a hilariously lopsided engagement, like a playground bully against a few dozen ants, crushing them with impunity.

Alexandria lifted off the rooftop, her body flaring with unnatural flame as she prepared her charge.

Then the sky lit up in gold. She froze, her eye cast skyward as she took in the source of the light.

Scion.

The golden man, the avatar of the beast large enough to cover an entire world. The one who spent every moment of every day saving lives.

The one who was going to murder the entirety of every iteration of humanity. If it was not for her knowledge of his true nature, it would have been nearly impossible to believe. He was perfect. An incarnate golden god, his white bodysuit and cape were as immaculate as ever.

The battle between the dragon and the Endbringer paused for a moment. Scarlet was looking up, her blood-red eyes glowing as the draconic head took in the form of Scion. Leviathan was still, as well. The Endbringer was impossible to read at the best of times, but even he seemed to be taking a moment.

All Alexandria could do was grit her teeth. _Please not now, please don't start it now. Please._

Ever since he arrived, Scion was always expressionless. Always stoic. Those he was near sensed something from him, however. Usually it was a sense of deep sadness. Deep, strong, difficult. People had burst into tears just being near him. Alexandria was one of the few that knew the source of that sadness. She'd felt it on numerous occasions, whenever he would assist in an Endbringer battle. It was always mixed with disgust whenever he looked at her, at the Cauldron capes, but Scion was predictable.

That sadness was still there. But now there was something else. Curiosity. He simply hovered above the field, his light brightening up the night sky, revealing the violence of the storm above and the damage of the battle below. But there were no golden blasts, no attempt to engage Leviathan. He just... hovered there, and watched.

Leviathan seemed to grow bored of waiting, turning toward the south and starting to move. Scarlet, snapped from her contemplation by the now-fleeing Endbringer, vanished in an eyeblink.

And reappeared in Leviathan's path, claws out, shining with a strange blue sheen. Leviathan tried to stop, to redirect his path, but apparently the time-slowing effects on the Endbringer had messed with his reflexes _just_ enough. The claws tore through Leviathan's side rather easily, making the Endbringer spin around, a good chunk of the torso ripped away. Water spilled, forming as Leviathan tried to weaponize his water-shadow, striking in powerful jets toward Scarlet.

That's when Alexandria hit him at around mach three. Leviathan slammed into the ground, mud and water splashing in all directions. He lifted the stump of his arm up to try and dislodge Alexandria, but the arm suddenly turned gray and flailed, moving less than an inch, back and forth, again and again, trapped within a familiar and horrific prison of time.

Sarah's voice came over the armband. _"Rally just north of the campus, I have Leviathan pinned in a timeloop. Tear him apart!"_

Alexandria activated her amulet, burning with unnatural fire as she ripped into the Endbringer's chest, trying to find the densest place within its unnatural body. Scarlet _roared,_ the dragon's blue claws ripping further down, the wounds the Endbringer inflicted upon it sealing themselves almost instantly. She began ripping into Leviathan's belly, the massive dragon grasping a section of crystalline bone and _tearing_ it straight out of the Endbringer.

It was still horrific work. Even as Alexandria's immutable hands were tearing through crystalline matter, her eye could pick up new material forming, trying to fill in the gaps, repair the damage. Leviathan spasmed beneath them, grass and mud flying in all directions. The defenders caught up, appearing in puffs of smoke or flying around the battlefield, beginning to add their own attacks to try and kill the Endbringer.

Then Leviathan exploded with water, enough to tear into a mountainside. Suddenly underwater, the defenders struggled to retreat, survive. Alexandria's armband blared, though it was impossible to hear. She caught sight of a red-suited man being ripped apart by the raging currents, along with another man covered in stone armor. A black-armored woman lifted her hands, forming a shield with desperation, though she was crushed by the sheer force of the water.

Her lungs filled with water, Alexandria struggled to lift off, to find the sweet air above, but the currents were driving her back down, right into the gaping maw she made within Leviathan's chest. She needed to breathe only once every five minutes...but she _needed_ air.

And above it all, Scion hovered, impassive. Watching as the heroes died.


	94. Interlude: War part 3

A/N: Know what the hardest part about this was? Finding the right music for the mood.

* * *

David stared at Behemoth.

The first Endbringer thrashed as Atlas and Dragon were tearing into him. Fire and frost clashed repeatedly, causing howling winds that flowed from the center of the battle. That only made the firefighting effort worse, but there wasn't much help for it. David was too busy focusing on the next shot.

 _Gravity shear._ It allowed him to warp gravity destructively, along with an instinctive perception so that it would not miss its target. It was a simple power. One that had been out of his reach for nearly fifteen years, drained dry. With the powers released from the now-free gods, however, David was able to channel some of that energy into the powers he had used up. He wasn't at his best, he wasn't as strong as he had been at the beginning of his career. But he was much, much stronger than he had been for years. Enough to reawaken and re-use some of the more useful powers he had thought gone forever.

Enough to stop his greatest mistake.

" _Aim for the head."_ Armsmaster's voice echoed over David's armband. David smiled grimly, shifting his aim just slightly as he let the power charge itself up. For most targets, it wouldn't be needed. But to shear through the stupidly dense layers of Behemoth's inner flesh, he needed two minutes between each burst, and the effort was rather rapidly draining the power.

It was still worth it. Personal power was important, but if it meant ending all the blood and death on his hands, David would happily drain every power he had dry.

Behemoth was spilling lava everywhere, out of the many wounds in his rocky form. The ghastly rent in his chest went right through him, piercing through the otherwise invincible form of the Endbringer. Still, he dug his foot forward, the other skeletal leg hanging uselessly, connected to the rest of his body by a pencil-thin strip of crystalline flesh. It wasn't enough to support his weight, and thus the Endbringer was forced to move forward slowly, gradually, unable to make the leaps that made him so horrifically dangerous in other engagements.

Atlas slammed into Behemoth again, the icy blade stabbing toward Behemoth's face. The Endbringer grasped the weapon in its remaining hand, heat and cold straining against each other. A whine built up, cracks began to form in the blade, and with a roar, Behemoth jerked forward. The sword snapped, burning along the point of failure, and Behemoth managed to bring Atlas down with his weight. With sheer, unmitigated brutality, Behemoth slammed his fist down, again and again, right on Atlas' chest, carving through the layers of ice, Tinkertech metals and forcefields. Any mundane machine wouldn't have withstood the barrage for even a minute.

Atlas lasted three. It was reduced to a flailing, helpless pile of metal, arms and head reduced to heated slag as it tried to fight back. Behemoth tore into it, trying to seek the pilot, ignoring the golden dragon searing holes in his flesh.

Armsmaster's voice echoed over the armbands. _"Pull back! I'm about to release the stored energies here!"_

Dragon immediately did so, flaring with light and instantly reappearing high above, only visible to David due to the perception ability that came packaged with the Gravity shear power.

Behemoth kept smashing into Atlas, ripping away the layers until he reached the pilot's compartment. Only there was no pilot. Merely a twenty-inch black portal with cables snaking out of it, connected to various ports around the interior of the machine. It looked like a hasty job, the pilot's seat was still present, but it was plain to David that the whole thing had been piloted by remote.

That's one hell of a way to make an impression. It had been tried before, but Behemoth tended to kill those within machines with his kill aura. That must have been a workaround.

Then the temperature suddenly dropped, the nearby fires went out, and Atlas and Behemoth both were abruptly covered in a transparent block of ice. It nearly immediately began to crack, fracture, as Behemoth poured heat into it. But it was enough to keep Behemoth from moving for one moment.

David unleashed another burst from his power.

It lanced out, effortlessly shattering the ice surrounding Behemoth's head. Crashed through the rocky layers of Behemoth's outer face. Ripped apart his single, burning eye. Shattered the crystalline skull beneath. Tore through the layers underneath that. Finally, exposing a dark core. The severe space-time warping that made the core possible to exist resisted the power, but it was still enough to make Behemoth reel, a spiderweb of burning blue cracks appearing on the core.

Behemoth burst his way from the ice, crushing the hollowed-out shell of Atlas beneath his foot. His arm drove itself downwards, cutting into the earth. Attempting to retreat, to flee and heal.

David shared a look with his friend. Legend returned it, his lips thin and determined.

Together, honed from years of battles against Behemoth, they moved. His body burning with Dragon's light, Legend honed his lasers to strike a single point on the core. They wove together, snaking and weaving through the air, to strike right in the center of the spidercracks. David called upon the other power he had ready.

 _Containment shield._

Behemoth was suddenly surrounded by a shimmering cylindrical field, impenetrable by anything harmful. Visible light would pass, up until it reached harmful levels. Nothing else would escape. Not radiation. Not objects. Not even an Endbringer. The base of the field was closed. Behemoth's rocky fist crashed into it and failed to pass through, the Endbringer now trapped, if only for a short time.

However, there was no such trouble about harmful things passing _into_ the field. Legend's blasts sailed straight through, exploding upon Behemoth's core. Cryogenic beams from Dragon's suits helped delay Behemoth's escape, cooling and cracking his skin as the Endbringer flailed. Neptune, far below, steered jets of water into the Endbringer's flesh, the heat immediately boiling the water into steam, but also further helping keep the Endbringer off-balance and trapped, helpless.

And Dragon, five hundred feet above, glowed like a burning sun as she built her power. The streams of her wings blazed as she drew in her power, and the light of the sun itself. She generated it, channelled it, light and magic weaving together as one.

Then she opened her mouth, emitting a searing blue beam that blasted into Behemoth, focusing on the core. The Endbringer was lost in the glare, the shining bright light impossible to look at, and the only reason it didn't cause more destruction was David's shield. His power strained as it fought to hold the Endbringer and blasting energy.

But it did not have to hold for long. When the light faded, Behemoth was lying upon the ground, a hollowed-out shell. The core upon the top of the head was burning, fire erupting from the cracks in its face. Behemoth went limp, the massive stone-covered body laying bonelessly upon the ground. The first Endbringer was entirely still. The heat that always accompanied it was fading. The radiation levels were dropping.

Dragon dropped down on top of the corpse of the Endbringer. With wickedly sharp claws, she tore the burning core away from the body. Opening her mouth, she released another blast of bright white light.

The core shattered into a thousand pieces, tiny burning chunks spraying in all directions.

Dragon lifted her head and roared.

Dragon's voice echoed over the armbands. " _Behemoth deceased, LM-6."_

David did not need the radio to hear the cheers. It was a pleasure to add his own voice to the chorus.

* * *

Dennis slapped his hand on another patient. They instantly froze, fingers clawing at the air.

This one was a man wearing _way_ too tight yellow spandex. Judging from the outfit, he had been a speedster. _Had been_ being the operative words, as he was now missing his legs.

Dealing with the aftermath of the Simurgh's victims was a _lot_ easier than this. There hadn't been very many hurt then. Oh there were wounds, but the Simurgh's final battle had been a lot more tame. Here, at Morriston Hospital, far inland from the battle at the coast? The emergency room was filling in with capes quickly.

Not for the first time, he wished Amy was here. Or even Amara. The redheaded girl wasn't anywhere near as good a healer as Amy had been, but Amara could have sealed the torn wounds a lot more easily than the doctors here could. All Dennis could do was buy time.

His armband blared. _"Clockblocker, report to the front of the hospital immediately."_

He grimaced, but got moving, pressing on the armband. "On it." He was pretty quick on his feet, thanks to the exercise regimen and healthy living the Wards program encouraged, but the place was filling up quickly. Capes from all over the world were here, trying to stop Leviathan.

Dennis stopped the second he stepped out the doors. Scion was hovering there, miles distant, and there were flashes of light and distant rumbles. But he wasn't moving, he wasn't blasting, he wasn't trying to stop the building waves. He was just...there, glowing brightly enough to light up the sky.

"The fuck is he doing?" Dennis muttered to himself.

"Beats me." Another voice said, her tone pleasant.

With a very manly (shut up) cry, Dennis whirled around. Behind him was a gray-clad blonde, amusement on her maskless face. "Don't _do_ that!"

She shrugged and clapped his shoulder. "Sorry. Not much time to waste. We've got to get to the shoreline, Gaia needs your power to help deal with the waves."

He shook his head. "I might be able to stop the wave, but if my timing's off by a fraction of a second, it'll squish me. And when it unfreezes it'll still have all the momentum it had previously. It'd just buy us anywhere from thirty seconds to ten minutes."

She smiled. "It's not the wave we'll be stopping. Come on." She began to walk, briskly but unhurried toward the south, following the winding streets.

"Shouldn't we be running? We've got a lot of ground to cover to get there. Hell, we should be taking a car or something, it's pretty far from here to the coast."

The woman shrugged again. "We got time. We can take all day to get there, actually. And I can't drive, don't know how. And I'm pretty sure I can't do something unfamiliar like that _and_ concentrate on holding up the field. It's not that hard, but not that easy either. Like keeping a raunchy tune in your head."

"What field? And what tune?"

She sighed, and pointed. Dennis looked, and blinked. There was a little bird in mid-air, frozen as if his power had been used on it.

She spoke with a smile. "Chronos has given us the ability to mess with time. I can speed things up, slow things down, even put a field around myself and a few other people to move around, though it's really difficult. Sarah's figured out the time prison and Robin just cheats outright, with a parahuman power as well as ours. I guess she got lucky being double-teamed like that. Me, I gotta use the one toy, but it's such a nice and flexible one."

Dennis choked. Then, he spoke, managing a smile of his own under his mask. "Well then, since we can take our time, why don't we find a car or a motorcycle or something? I can drive. And you can share a couple of stories."

She grinned. "I'm Andrea."

Huh. No cape name? Well, he wasn't about to complain. "Clockblocker."

Andrea laughed. "Definite sense of humor, too. I hope it's just clocks you block. I'm liking the view from here." She looked him up and down. "Tempted to freeze you, put a dress on you, take a few pics, put everything back, and use it for blackmail material later."

Despite the subject matter, Dennis couldn't help himself. "Already did that to Aegis. I've got it on my phone."

Her eyes lit up. "You find us wheels. Let me see that."

She was laughing for long minutes afterward while he checked out the nearest motorcycle he could find.

* * *

"You are a lousy driver." Andrea said.

"I've had three lessons!" Dennis said defensively. "Doesn't help everyone else is not moving _and_ they're on the wrong side of the road."

"We're in the UK. The left side _is_ the right side."

The pair had taken a motorcycle from where it had been chained up on a side road. Andrea had done _something_ to it, using that power of hers, and it had started up despite the fact neither of them had the key for it. Apparently she rewound the key mechanism to the on position, and away they went.

Now that they'd arrived at Mumbles Road on the coastline, Dennis slowed down. Scion's light, now nearer and brighter, made it _very_ easy to see the sixty foot tall tsunami that sat in the middle of the bay, dark and ominous. The fact it was utterly still didn't set his mind at ease at all.

"So what's the plan?" Dennis asked, rubbing his wrist. Just because he knew how to ride a motorcycle didn't mean he liked it. "I'm still having trouble seeing what we're supposed to do."

Andrea shrugged. "Gaia asked for you. We're supposed to meet her just up that way." She pointed over his shoulder, and now that he was looking, he noticed her. A green-haired woman, standing on the sand, arms outstretched.

He pulled the bike over near the figure. As soon as the pair were within five feet, she began moving again, though she was shaking her head. After a moment, she glanced over at Andrea, rolling her eyes. "If I live for ten millennia, I will never get used to that."

"Temporal shock's a bitch." Andrea said with a nod. "Clock's here."

Gaia looked Dennis over, a faint smile on her lips. "Good. The moment Andrea drops the field, I will erect a wall to block the wave. You shall reinforce it."

Geez. Talk about pressure. "Alright. Ready here." He flexed his hand.

Andrea let out a sigh of relief. Then abruptly, the rolling wave in the bay started moving. Moving very _fast._

Gaia spread her arms, and the sand in front of her _shifted._ There was a sudden terrible crack, and a long gray granite wall sprung out of the earth. It grew rapidly, springing skyward with no sign of stopping anytime soon. It moved impossibly, sliding almost entirely without friction, and the damn thing stretched off into the horizon in both directions.

"Now!" Gaia yelled.

Dennis slapped his hand against the wall. It abruptly stopped moving, the familiar rush of his power passing into it. Then there was a great _crash._ Water splashed over the now hundred-foot wall, but in piddling amounts, the rest repelled by the immovable object.

Nice.

"Stay here." Gaia said. "I may need your assistance again, at least if I do not wish to entirely alter this island's shape."

* * *

Hannah held her breath.

It was for a rather different reason than most of the other people on the battlefield, though. She was a hundred feet away on a rooftop, making calculations in her head. The only thing she could see was Leviathan's arm, sticking out of the rushing water. Discolored, gray, and seemingly frozen from here.

Salacia stood next to her, the water-based projection had a hand outstretched. Against Leviathan, she had no chance to counter the Endbringer on a mass scale, but she _could_ fight it on an individual level. Several times jets of water had sought out Hannah, only for them to be diverted at the last instant. It gave Hannah the chance to unleash hell.

She formed a minigun, and blazing with unnatural fire from the amulet around her neck, the weapon blasted at Leviathan. Normally, Hannah would never try to use such a weapon near other capes, but Leviathan's desperate blast of water had freed the area around him. The 7.62 mm bullets, meant to tear apart vehicles and infantry armor, scythed through water and Endbringer flesh alike. Hannah stopped only when Salacia lifted a hand, twisting her fingers in a code Hannah understood.

 _Rising fast. Prepare grenades._

With clenched teeth, Hannah formed a grenade launcher. An M79 'blooper' so named for the sound it made when delivering death and destruction. Reaching to her bandolier, she pulled out one of the blue-labeled grenades, loaded it. She did the calculations in her head. It had an effective range of over a thousand feet, but it would still be difficult to manage the shot from here.

Then there was a _roar,_ and Scarlet Dragon burst from the rushing water, the great dark shape of her dragon form shining in Scion's golden light. She held the thrashing, water-streaming form of Leviathan above her, her claws blazing with magical fire, searing into Leviathan's torso. His maimed arm was left behind, torn off by the sheer force the Lady of Darkness brought to bear upon the Endbringer. The dragon threw Leviathan toward the north, keeping itself between the Endbringer and the shore, so near to the south.

Leviathan scrambled back to his feet, just as Scarlet rammed into it again, burning claws tearing deep into crystalline matter. The impacts seemed to stun Leviathan, and the rushing water below suddenly slackened. Alexandria managed to burst from the water, tumbling and whirling in midair, puking out an impressive amount of water. Then she slowed and stopped in midair, before there was a flicker of gray, then she vanished.

Salacia flicked her fingers. _Clear. Strike._

Taking the opportunity, Hannah aimed and fired. The grenade struck Leviathan right in the hollowed-out chest, the magically-enhanced weapon freezing the Endbringer solid. The water suddenly ceased flowing. Almost immediately, the ice began to ripple and crack, but for the moment, the Endbringer was helpless.

Enough time for Chevalier, burning sword just barely visible in the rushing waters below, to bring his cannonblade down with a chop. Space-time warped, allowing the weapon to strike further than it had any right to, and it cleaved almost straight through Leviathan's torso. Crystalline matter went scattering in all directions.

Then Leviathan exploded into water once more. The Endbringer launched itself through the air, heading south, seeking the coastline. Attempting to retreat as it had so many times before. It launched over Hannah, its form difficult to see through the watery shell that was now covering it. He made it over the campus, nearly reaching the bay, when Scarlet erupted into existence and reached through that water-shell, grasping Leviathan's tail.

Then the dragon turned and _slammed_ Leviathan against the ground, treating the Endbringer like a ragdoll. Then again, and again, concrete, mud and rock spraying outwards from every impact.

Leviathan twitched, water bursting away from its form and spraying into Scarlet's face. The dragon was forced to let go, and Leviathan went skidding away. Without either arm, the Endbringer struggled to right itself, and by the time it did, forcefields had surrounded the two massive figures, enclosing both in a flaming dome. Narwhal and the others hovered above the pair, keeping both opponents caught within.

Leviathan turned south, seemed to examine the fields, though that was difficult to tell with him lacking a head. Then with resigned determination, it faced the dragon, tail lashing angrily.

Scarlet paced, claws wrapped in flame. The Endbringer and great red dragon sizing each other up, seconds passing with the only sound of hissing steam to punctuate the moment.

Leviathan charged, forming blades of water to replace his lost limbs.

Scarlet also charged, taking deep rents into her flesh as she slammed into the Endbringer, and the already-injured Leviathan went tumbling off-balance. Leviathan slammed into the field on the outer edge of the dome, trying to scramble to get away from it, but nearly helpless without either arm to help his top-heavy form get back on its feet.

Scarlet pounced on top of it, burning claws ripping and tearing viciously. Water and fire clashed, erupting into clouds of steam. Impact, impact, impact, as the dragon slammed and clawed its way through Endbringer flesh. It was near-impossible to see with the boiling steam, all that managed to get out of the enclosing forcefield was the sounds of the battle.

Then, all was quiet. Everything was still for a moment, the only sound was crackling flames and racking coughs as capes struggled to get the water from their lungs.

A pulse of darkness, and then Scarlet appeared above the dome in her demonic form. She held above her head a sphere in one hand, about the size of a car. A piece of warped and twisted space that seemed to shimmer and distort, like looking at ripples in a pond. Steam rose from it, water poured from it, and it seemed to quiver and shudder, as if straining to get away from the Lady of Darkness.

Then Scarlet's hand erupted in flame. The core cracked, quivered, and perversely _crumbled,_ falling onto the forcefield dome beneath her. The shards of Leviathan's core erupted into tiny flames, dissipating into steam.

Scarlet lowered her hand, extinguishing her flames. Then she looked up at the form of Scion, hovering above the battlefield.

The world's most powerful hero had his arms crossed as he looked back. The moment seemed to stretch.

Then he flared with golden light. He turned to the west and flew off.

For a long moment, there was only silence. Then the cheers began.


	95. Interlude: Dawn

A/N: We're nearly there. It's been a long, difficult time getting this far. But I am _proud_ to have done this.

* * *

"He broke pattern." Rebecca said, her voice serious.

Nathan looked between Doctor Mother, David, Contessa, and Rebecca. "Why are you so damned worried about that? We won. It's finally over. We still have problems, sure, but we can get back on top of things now, can't we?"

Silence reigned in the room for a moment.

"It is over, isn't it?" Nathan asked.

Contessa shook her head. "It's not. Not yet. Scion is going to move. I can't run any paths involving _anybody_ more than a year from now. It's going to start, soon."

Doctor Mother audibly swallowed. "How soon?"

"Can't tell." Contessa answered. "Anywhere from tomorrow to a year. If I try to run certain paths, he begins immediately, but there's too many variables and I've got too many blindspots. Each god we free is another point I have trouble reading."

"What the hell are you talking about!? Why are you worried about Scion?" Nathan demanded.

Rebecca bit her lip, then she spoke. "What Cauldron was made for, Nathan. What Clark was working on when he died. Scion's the threat we've been preparing against. His species infects others with powers, parts of themselves. They learn, grow, change, improve themselves on them, and then destroys the planet they've rooted on and move onward. Making more spawn to repeat the process on other civilizations. Scion is going to kill us all, either by finishing his life cycle by calling another like himself here, or for vengeance for killing his counterpart."

Nathan had gone pale. "But...all this time. Why did you keep this from me?"

David sighed. "Because we've done horrible things to prevent that. You were a good man, Nathan. Always had been. You don't have the blood on your hands, and we _needed_ you that way. If you'd known... you'd have looked at us differently. You were needed as the head of the Protectorate. The way... Clark would have been. We needed a good man with ideals at the head. When we lost him... we got desperate. To stave off extinction, not just on our Earth but uncountable others, we sold our souls. You didn't. We believed that bargain would have broken you."

Doctor Mother nodded. "Today, though, we have options. We have a chance, though we don't know how much of one. And we can't afford to be divided. After it's over, if we're all still alive... it'll be you who decides what to do, Nathan. That's why we kept your hands clean of our crimes. You know us, what we've been fighting for."

Contessa opened her mouth, but Nathan pointed at her. "No. I know you'd be able to say whatever words were needed to convince me, regardless of what you've done." He looked at Doctor Mother. "I want to hear it from you."

She nodded, her lips thin. "It's going to take a while."

David's voice was grave. "Hopefully, you have the time. I need to get back on freeing the rest."

* * *

 _August 16th, 2011_

In her living room, watching her laptop, Emily Piggot sat back.

On the screen before her, in shaky-cam and windowed, were the two videos being circulated to the PRT and governments around the world. The Battle of Yellowstone and the Battle of Swansea. They were being checked, edited by the PR department, and soon they'd be sent out worldwide. August 15th would be the first day of a post-Endbringer world, and she was glad to see it. And all because of furiously quick events that occurred right under her nose.

Not for the first time, she'd been glad to have taken the approach she had regarding one Taylor Hebert. When Emily had first confirmed that the girl had been victimized by one of Piggot's own Wards, she'd been furious. It had been a sore point for her, ever since Nilbog and that damnable fight in Ellisburg. The heroes that were sent in with the strike teams cut and run when things got bad. It made sense, in retrospect. Capes were damaged people given power, they weren't people who were given power because they'd proven responsible. Some could rise above, heal from their triggers, act with responsibility and cohesion. But in the face of greater power, they ran.

She rubbed her temples. The workload in Brockton Bay had calmed, a _lot_ , considering just how much of a powderkeg the city had been a few short months ago. The Empire Eighty-Eight, despite how much parahuman muscle they had, were nearly locked in place. The worst that had happened were small engagements between the Hellhound girl raiding Hookwolf's dogfighting rings.

Still, she'd been feeling warm. Slightly hot, actually. It meant it would be a good time to head into her bedroom and hook herself up to her dialysis machine. Given the cheers she could hear in the halls, she was fairly certain she wasn't the only one who would be nursing a headache in the morning, though _theirs_ would be self-inflicted.

For such a long time, the spectre of the Endbringers had stood over her head. Over _everyone's_ head. And now they were gone. All three of them. It had been one of Emily's fears that one would come to Brockton Bay, destroy in one fell swoop what she had worked to protect and preserve for years. Admittedly, the gangs had been slowly leeching the life and strength from the city, but now that was actually turning around.

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose. It was definitely time to call it a day. This was the best day in ages, a day that would go down in history, and the only thing Emily could think about was how it would complicate things. The villains of the world didn't have the cover of being 'useful' in an Endbringer battle anymore. Things were going to erupt. Either a zealous government official would press at the wrong time, or a villain would decide they were doomed and thus had to go out in a blaze of glory.

Though there was one thing that Emily had to do before she went to bed. Taking a notepad out, she wrote a note for future reference.

 _Punish Paladin for her stunt against Leviathan._

A Ward should _never_ do something so _idiotically reckless_ if they could help it. Swinging around Leviathan's arm on that whip of hers? Sure, she did damage, but that was _fucking stupid._

Emily managed a small smile on her lips. Paladin was _really_ going to regret it.

With a sigh, she closed the laptop, turned off the power, and went to her bedroom bed. She always felt a bit better after the dialysis, though she hadn't felt _good_ since the raid on Nilbog. With a sigh, she hooked the IV up to her arm, turned on the dialysis machine, and laid back. She closed her eyes.

And reopened them when the machine beeped, just a few minutes later, indicating her blood was clean.

Confused, Emily sat up, pressed on the screen that showed her blood toxin levels.

Zero. But the _temperature_ was a hundred and ten degrees. She noticed she was warm, but _that_ temperature should have cooked her brain. She felt as aching as she ever had since Nilbog. She'd tested negative for the potential for powers. And if she _did_ have the potential, she _would have_ triggered back in two-thousand-one.

Still...

A strange instinct made her look down at her left hand. She swallowed, lifted it, then snapped her fingers.

Just like that, her hand was wrapped in flame. There was no pain, just the pleasant sensation of warmth. It was as if her hand was wrapped in warm silk, not thousand-degree heat.

"What the fuck?" Emily Piggot muttered.

Then the fire alarm went off, and the sprinkler system activated.

* * *

"Well?" Dragon asked, her voice smug.

Colin sighed. "You were right. Piloting Atlas by remote was the right idea. I wanted to be right there with you, but if I had been..."

Dragon's digital avatar nodded. "You'd have been fried by Behemoth. Despite how much we prepared Atlas, Behemoth still managed to bring it down. He would have killed you, like he killed so many others."

He sighed, slumping back in his chair. He was happy to get back to his workshop after the battle. Especially as he had been as safe as it was possible to be while still being on the same planet.

She _had_ suggested setting the Atlas control center in Tranquility Base, but they hadn't had the room for it just yet. They were still working on self-sufficiency, setting up solar panels, putting in water and a sewage treatment system. Should the portals fail for one reason or another, it was important that the base wouldn't die immediately.

Still, fighting Behemoth in Wyoming, while he was here in Brockton Bay? That rankled him somewhat. He had wanted to be _there,_ regardless of logic. Part of that was his pride, but part of that was also that he _hated_ sitting back away from the action. It was one of the reasons he'd triggered. A kid who was _always_ second best, always struggling to meet ever-rising expectations, only for others to seemingly effortlessly meet them.

He shook his head. Colin Wallis, high-school student, was long gone.

Finally, he sighed. "I know. I don't like it, but I know."

Dragon's avatar smiled. "You know what you owe me for this."

He licked his lips, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah. I'm... actually, I'm going to have to rent a suit."

She chuckled. "There is a certain dress code, but it's not _that_ high-class. Just use your business suit, you won't need a tux."

* * *

Twenty minutes, a Light Bridge, and about six hundred miles later, Colin showed up at the restaurant. He felt uncomfortable in his dark blue suit, the lighter blue shirt underneath clean and crisp. Just because Colin didn't use it very often didn't mean he couldn't keep it in decent shape. He might need it for something mundane, even if it was a rare occasion.

The perky blonde behind the greeter's podium looked him over, gave him a nod, and smiled. "Good evening sir, do you have a reservation?"

He nodded, clearing his throat. "Wallis, for two. My plus one hasn't arrived yet." He glanced at the sign at the side. _50% off all meals, Victory Day party._

She scanned her way down the list, made a checkmark, and nodded. She grabbed two menus and led him over to a booth by the window. Colin sat himself down, took off his jacket, and made himself comfortable as he turned and looked out at the Toronto skyline.

He'd never been up here before, at the CN Tower, or the novelty rotating restaurant at the top. It was an interesting idea, and certainly novel. It wasn't that he didn't like the view, or the experience, it was simply that he was kept so very busy. Armsmaster never had much time to rest. He needed sleep, something that personally annoyed him, as he could get a lot more done if he shared Miss Militia's trait of not requiring sleep. He had once considered trying to build a hyperbaric time chamber to allow him to sleep for a full night's worth while spending only minutes in real-time, but the power requirements were too costly to run such a device, and a malfunction would have been catastrophic.

That, and ironically, it would have required rebuilding every month or so, thus saving him little time at all.

Still, he enjoyed the view. Toronto was one of the cities that had gotten through the past three decades fairly unscathed. No city on the planet had been _completely_ prosperous after the advent of parahumans, but Toronto was certainly better off than Brockton Bay. It was clean, shining, while a lot of Brockton was decaying. Brockton wouldn't have the resources to keep a restaurant like this going. Well, maybe if a Tinker would help keep it running.

Already his power was giving him some ideas. A frictonless fluid to help the track underneath the floor to keep running. Nanotracks to help channel the waste heat.

"Hello Colin." A lovely voice intruded on his thoughts.

He snapped his gaze away from the window, and swallowed.

Dragon was standing there, smiling. She was wearing a shimmering blue dress that accentuated her curves. A lesser man might have been distracted by the body beneath that dress, but Colin easily picked out that her dress was Tinker-made. It was made of tiny interconnected links of synthetic sapphires. It was exquisite.

She slipped into the seat opposite, a wide grin on her lips. "I thought we could enjoy the day. I've never been on a date before, and I _am_ enjoying the taste of food."

He smiled. "I'm not so good at this."

Dragon returned the smile. "Neither am I. Still, let's enjoy the evening, hm? What do you recommend?"

* * *

 _August 17th, 2011_

Vicky stepped into the bedroom. After the Nine, she'd been staying at her aunt and uncle's place. Red had offered a room at her castle, but she had two reasons to not move just yet. Her Mom, and her Dad. Sarah tended to her sister, while Neil tried to tend to Mark. Neither of the Dallons had gotten through things unscathed.

Her eye took in her mother, who was sitting at the window, looking outside. She was pale, her fingers running up and down her torso. Taylor and Amy's work when they were fixing her left no scar, no hint of the horrible work the insane bio-Tinker had left upon her, but the mental scars remained.

"Hi Mom." Vicky spoke softly.

Carol's head snapped over, her eyes wide as she looked at her daughter. After a moment, she visibly swallowed, her voice quiet and shaky. "Victoria."

Vicky stepped over, gently pulling her mother into a hug. "You're doing better, Mom. I'm glad."

Carol flinched, stiffened, but after a moment she let out a breath. "I just keep remembering that night, Victoria. Feeling helpless, trapped as Bonesaw..." She shuddered. "I keep dreaming that I'm back there. Being cut open as she worked... afraid that she'd do the same to you." Carol closed her eyes. "Even afraid of her doing it to Amy."

Vicky swallowed. "Yeah. Not much danger of that now, but..."

"Yeah." Carol looked down at her hands. "I know it doesn't make any sense. I know that up in my head, but I keep..." After a moment, she sighed. "I was afraid of losing you to that monster, too. Only for my life to be saved by a very different one. A lot of people's lives to be saved be your friend. She scares me, Victoria. I'm grateful she saved Amy, saved my life too, but... I keep picturing her _flowing_ into Bonesaw."

Vicky nodded, a small quirk on her lip. "She scares a lot of people, Mom. Thankfully, it's the right people." Carefully, Vicky rubbed the skin beneath her eyepatch. The damn thing still itched. Amy felt about ready to try and replace it, but they'd both decided to hold off on it for the moment. The more practice Amy could get, the better anyway.

There was another reason Vicky was holding off on insisting on it, though. Amy had enough shit going on that it just didn't feel fair. Not after _dying_.

" _I'm in love with you. Please don't hate me."_

Words whispered on a dying breath. It made Vicky uncomfortable, sure. But it also ensured that Vicky had to stop and consider her sister's feelings a bit more. The blonde was now uncomfortably aware of just how self-centered she could be. She'd made her plan to get away from home without consulting Amy at all, though she knew her sister would have jumped at the chance anyway. She'd called Amy to help heal gangbangers she'd gotten too... enthusiastic with, when she was first starting out with powers. She'd gotten better about use of force, but it was just so _easy._ One slip and the squishy mortals would be turned to a pulp against her invincible fist.

Only she wasn't invincible. Not against the right enemy. The loss of her eye had been painful... but it also reminded her that she was still human. Too bad it took the fucking Nine to help hammer that in. She was just glad she hadn't lost everything. That she still had her parents, even though it took two horrific miracles.

And maybe a third dark miracle in the future. The thought of leaving her sister to face eternity alone was a hard one.

Finally, Vicky spoke. "Aunt Sarah's making dinner. You think you're ready to come on down? We need to talk to them about... well, everything. Red's given permission about the whole thing, and so has Ames."

Carol licked her lips. Slowly, she nodded. "I guess hiding up here won't work forever."

* * *

The Entity had circled the world three times. Examining. Watching. Perceiving. Learning.

Three beings at that battle that possessed no shard. Three beings that the Entity's own shards strained to examine. Three beings whose powers, combined with the efforts of shard-hosts, were enough to destroy one of the weapons. A weapon that in itself unleashed more energy on its death, reverberating through the shards connected with it, as its source fled. A power that was a mystery to the Entity, though it had learned much.

The future-modeling shards had evolved through countless iterations. Combining methods to refine the most efficient manner of gaining accurate knowledge. The powers themselves left no trace in the future models, the shards had great difficulty in analyzing the source of that energy.

Infinity.

Permeating the red one, the time-warped one, and the rock-covered one, connected through strands of energy, unseen by light or radiation, were several infinities. It was not natural. It had taken time, the Entity's shards working upon the matter with all of its focus, but it understood. The source of their power was difficult for the shards to understand. The beings themselves were not. It took much more energy to attempt to see their futures than it was worth spending, but the little the Entity _did_ spend was worth the price. Two hundred years of life spent to see. And understand.

There was energy flowing throughout space that simply _did not exist_ two hundred years ago. When it had appeared, it was faint, so faint that neither the Entity or the Thinker had noticed it. But here it congregated, creating that which would, _should_ have been an impossibility. The weapons had somehow _pulled_ the energy into the many dimensions when the Wanderer had appeared. Somehow their appearance changed something fundamental, creating a seething background energy that could be pulled upon, shaped, as the red one had done to bypass the defenses that the weapons had used to endure every battle before. It was weak for now, but its strength had been growing. Somehow, that energy formed conduits, latching onto hosts, which created infinities that the hosts drew upon. The existence of the conduits then bled back out into the background energy, making it more stable, reliable. Stronger. And it was growing stronger, minutely, with every passing day.

That energy was now touching, faintly, everything the Entity examined. The shard-hosts. The non-hosts. The plantlife. The rocks.

Even, with some consternation, the Entity itself. The Entity had yet to figure out how to draw upon the energy with any hint of efficiency, but it _was_ there. Was this what the Wanderer had spoken of? Was this the hint it had at the Purpose? The first hint the Entities had at the ultimate goal, the first chance it had at creating more livable space, more energy, more matter, than existed in all the dimensions...

And it might be lost because the discovery was made among the corpses of two dead Entities, with a third trapped, helpless, and unable to communicate the discovery.

It was enough to make the Entity despair all over again.

The Entity reached the city, 'York' though the label did not matter to the Entity. It knew where Kevin Norton was. It was simple enough to find a single non-host when the Entity wished it.

It took only a few minutes to reach the location. The Entity was in no hurry. It was raining in York, though that had no concern for the Entity either. Kevin Norton was taking shelter beneath a bridge. How frail the non-hosts were. So fragile. Unable to withstand exposure to their own world's natural environment for longer than a short time.

Kevin Norton looked up at the Entity as he hovered above the non-host. The shaking man coughed. "Hey, golden man. Hell of a week, hasn't it?"

The Entity examined Kevin Norton. The non-hosts' health was deteriorating. Nerves were alight with electrical signals, making the male tremble and shake. His lungs were lined with fluid and mucous, diseased cells unable to do the job properly.

It would have taken only a second's worth of the Entity's lifespan to fix the damage. The Entity did so.

Kevin Norton took a deep, shuddering breath, the paleness of his face receding. "Thanks."

The Entity inclined its avatar's head.

Kevin Norton was staring at the Entity, now. "I heard what you did at Swansea. Why didn't you help? The Endbringers killed so many people. If you helped when you showed up, a lot of the capes could have survived. Could have killed Leviathan quicker. Why didn't you help?"

The Entity used its shards. Activating a shard to manipulate its avatar in a way it had only done so once before. Expelling _air_ to communicate. How... alien. "Pointless."

Kevin Norton swallowed. "What do you mean, golden man? How was it pointless? You could have saved dozens of heroes! They're not going to go home again, because of you. Leviathan could have gotten away, and gone on to kill more people!"

The Entity shifted its attention. Looked out at the people of York. There were twenty-three latent hosts within the city. Six active hosts. The rest were non-hosts. All the data they would gather would be lost. They would die long before the Entity would. Whether through violence or time, they would all end, pointlessly. Just as the Entity itself would.

It shifted its attention back to Kevin Norton. The energy that permeated everything else was permeating Kevin Norton as well, though it was even lower than in most. As if the non-host was unable to contain more than the barest whisper of it. "All. Pointless."

That was the worst part of it. Nothing the Entity had done over the past thirty years had meant _anything._ The promised revelation in aiding the lives of the non-hosts had not come. Kevin Norton had been sincere in his suggestions, but they did not help the Entity.

The Entity took the risk. It looked forward, fifteen years. It took nearly a thousand years of lifespan to manage the glimpse. Much more lifespan than it should have, attempting to model and predict the powered non-hosts. But it was enough. The Entity knew that the revelation would _never_ come. It would simply exist, acting to aid the non-hosts, until lethargy took it and it settled into observation. It would then decide to wipe out the species as a failed experiment, and preventing them from possibly becoming a threat to any other Entities in the future.

And then the Entity would die. Not from time or running out of energy, it would simply _die._ The Warrior could not see the deathblow. But the energy permeating everything was much stronger. The hosts of the strange powers were prepared, striking back in ways the Entity could not perceive properly. But the effects were plain. In various situations, depending on how the Entity attempted to sterilize the non-hosts, they fought back with enough effectiveness to defeat the Entity. And much of it stemmed from the energy that had flooded into the dimensions. It would be stronger in fifteen years. Their defense against the Entity's attack was prepared with astonishing effectiveness.

"Golden man? Are you okay? How can I help you? I swear, there's purpose out there. Just.. don't give up, please."

The Entity's attention returned to the present. It examined Kevin Norton more thoroughly now. The energy inside the non-host was weak compared to the others even within the city. Even the rodents within York had more in some cases.

But it was still far, far greater than it had been when the Entity had arrived. The energy would become a threat, in time. Even if the Entity itself did not fight, just waited for the end, the energy might empower other non-hosts elsewhere. Become a threat to the Entity's species.

Put the Purpose in danger.

A stillness overcame the Entity. Its avatar straightened, and the sadness that had clung to its psionic aura faded. Now filled with something new.

Determination.

"Purpose." The Entity spoke as it lifted a hand. Kevin Norton's eyes widened as the Entity unleashed its wavelength manipulation. Undoing the bindings of Kevin Norton's atoms, reducing him to neutrinos in an instant. The Entity ensured it was painless. Kevin Norton had meant well. Attempted to teach the Entity, attempted to help him in its journey. It was a kindness to ensure the consideration was returned, however small the non-host had been.

The Entity flew away from York, senses extending, shards awakening, providing knowledge, possibilities, powers, information. There was more it had to discover, more it had to do to ensure its goals. The shard-hosts, the powered non-hosts, and the ordinary non-hosts were a threat to the Entity's species, but they were weak at this point.

The Entity lifted out of the atmosphere and began to spend its lifespan upon modeling the best angle of attack. Simply striking and destroying everything in the Entity's path was considered, then discarded. That much damage was unacceptable, resistance was stiff, and enough damage was done to the avatar that the Entity could not succeed at its goal. Again, it took more energy than the Entity liked to spend upon the task. It directed the modeling shards to slow their processing, gather information thoroughly, carefully, and to take in as much ambient sunlight and consumable matter in their dimensions as possible to lighten the strain.

This would slow when the information would become available to the Entity itself, but that was acceptable. The Entity had to retain enough lifespan to complete its task. It would do no good if the Entity ran out of reserves in the middle of the battle.

The Purpose was threatened. The Warrior prepared.


	96. Eclipse 9-1

A/N: A bit more buildup. Fun.

* * *

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 **Topic: Endbringers dead!  
In: Boards ► Global ► Endbringer Watch**

 **Ze Bri-0n** (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know)  
Posted on August 15, 2011:

Holy. Shit.

Okay, here's the sitch guys, for whichever of you are all living under rocks.

Both Behemoth and Leviathan began moving at the same time, at around 2:30 am Greenwich time. Behemoth was determined to be moving on Yellowstone National Park. Why is that important? Because if he reached and set off the volcano under it, like a lot of Thinkers believed, it would have blanketed half the USA in ash and completely ruined the crop yields for the year. And that's assuming it didn't cause a global winter, in which case everyone gets to starve.

Leviathan on the other hand, headed for Swansea, in the UK. He made landfall right on where the Bay University campus was, and if he sunk the island, it not only would have killed all the Brits, it would have caused a tsunami that would have wrecked everything even vaguely near the Atlantic. Both of them stepped up their game a few notches.

Both were intercepted by the Protectorate and volunteers. Get this. Know the Scarlet Dragon, beating the shit out of the Simurgh and chewing on her face? Apparently (pics) she has a sister. Golden. Awesome.  
Secondly, Behemoth got his face punched in by (THIS) awesome. Anime has been vindicated. To fight a giant monster, you need a giant robot.

Leviathan was intercepted by Scarlet Dragon, Alexandria, and everyone who could get near the bastard.  
Also, get this: (These guys) appeared at the battlefield, about ten minutes prior to the fight, where they rather handily took apart and stopped a bunch of the Fallen from killing a bunch of hostages in New Orleans. They're dressed in gray. And, it took a bit to find, but this is going to blow your minds.  
The one at the front is Sarah Kissinger. Yeah, the first person we know about who got damned to eternity by Gray Boy.

Holy. Fuck.

I got video of the battle (here). Watch for yourselves. Try not to cream yourselves. Cause it's all fucking. Awesome. Both Endbringers fight like hell, but they get torn apart and taken down. They're dead. Gone.

And also, weirdly, the western coast of Britain's sporting a new hundred foot tall smooth granite wall. Not just Swansea Bay, the entire coastline. What the hell? It's not that thick, but that's just...what the fuck?

Now, this isn't a complete victory. A lot of capes died. They're still tallying the losses. But goddamn guys. I just blew about a month's worth of savings on liquor to celebrate. They're gone! We fucking won!

 **(Showing Page 1 of 89)**

 **► DrunkenFillipino**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
I am praying to the makeshift shrine I made to both the Scarlet Empress and her Golden Sister. They who hath made all things possible from the Simurgh to the annihilation of the S9 is worthy of adulation.

As for Kissinger and the Grey Cloaks, might they be inspired to take arms against evil villainous scum by the grace of the Two Sisters?

And yes, I shall henceforth petition that the Two Sisters be a legal religion against the proscribed cults of the Endbringers. And I would kindly request the Scarlet Empress if she's seeking converts and soldiers to her cause.

Valefor can such my cock as I shall take great pleasure in impaling him.

 **► Gasoline**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
fist of all, you would get a disease.

Second; celebrate good times come on, come on!

We're free, we're fucking free.

To paraphrase that Alph movie: By choosing to believe in ourselves and trusting in one another and with none standing alone, we have canceled the Apocalypse!

 **► HavenlyLight**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
And so humanity is lost forever to the darkness, as the true angel of the Lord contepmtfully abandoned us, for we have succumbed to the temptation of Evil! We have put our hopes on the demon and for this we deserve nothing else but an everlasting scorn!

And even if Endbringers are defeated it change nothing for our souls are lost forever!

 **► OnlySaneMan**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Oh, here we go. Hello Havenly! I see you're still insane!

By the way, I have this very nice altar to the Scarlet Dragon (my Lady and Savior) sitting right next to me. It is currently adorned with shiny gold. Not MUCH shiny gold, because I'm poor and all that.

But here it is. Twenty years of Endbringer attacks, and they're all dead. Scion killed none of them. Scarlet Dragon killed two. Well, one and a half.

Also, weirdness, her golden counterpart fighting Behemoth. That's new, too. And, again, way, way more awesome than the golden ADD sufferer with zero sense of priorities.

Conspiracy hat on! Notice it's a golden dragon? Like Dragon's suit was when she and Scarlet killed the Simurgh? I... I think we've got two goddesses here, guys. Little g, maybe, but considering...

 **► AbsurdlyCuteKitty**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Re: HavenlyLight  
Well, I wouldn't call it "lost in darkness". I mean, Darkness didn't swallow us, it swallowed the Endbringers without touching us. And truthfully if demon or not, Scarlet Dragon seems to be way better at slaughtering Endbringers than your Lord.  
Is she a goddess? I don't know. I need clarification upon what 'goddess' means. But if she's a dark goddess, I really don't care. She's the nicest one ever.

 **► Flytrap** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Yeah, stuff was rather hectic back there, lost a body to Leviathan (although that was to be expected, didn't think I'd get that close to be honest), but i did manage to help a few capes out of the waters beforehand, so i'd say its a fair trade...  
and hey, since the oceans less dangerous, i might as well see if i can do a bit of exploring...

 **► DwarfHome**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
So, I realise that this is going to sound like I'm, bragging? Making shit up. But I live in Swansea, they evacuated us onto one of the hills behind the city, actually had a pretty good view of the fight. Fucking hell, we're going to get so many tourists.

 **► Zebes Brinstar**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Two Endbringers. In. One. Day. And a dragon for each! I think we can safely say that this is one for the record books! Not to say that the other capes didn't help, but... I mean... Holy shit.  
But... What was with Scion? was he in pure "Pass the popcorn" mode? I mean, usually he at least FIGHTS them... Maybe he just thought that there wasn't much point in wasting his immaculate goldenness on the obviously weaker party?

Re:Kissinger and the other Grey Boy victims, isn't there a thread about how all the known victims disappeared? At least they seem to be okay. Still, one would think they would be tired of the color grey by now.

 **► PaulPoutine**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Re: Dwarfhome  
Pics or it didn't happen.

 **End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 87 , 88, 89**

 **(Showing Page 2 of 89)**

 **► DwarfHome**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Pics provided here.

Apologies for the quality, crap camera.

 **► Melachon**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
I'm celebrating like eveyrone else, but I have to ask, they called that lady Gaia, isn't that too egoistical or something? Calling yourself that? Or does she come from the same place as SD?

 **► Lady_Chandelier** (Verified Crazy Cat)  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
No more arrogant than naming yourself after any other mythological figure. And if she was the one responsible for the Wall, as rumour has it, then she has a better claim to the title than most.

 **► F.F. Snow** (Verified Cape) (Unverified Snowman)  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Typing this from a hospital bed, waiting for the burns to heal: Dragon was fucking incredible out there, and so was her giant robot. Armsmaster was piloting it, going by the armband chatter; no word on him being disabled or deceased when Behemoth tore it down, so I hope he's okay.

Gotta admit, started crying when I heard her announce the Endbringer's death over the bands; I'm so glad it's over, and that I survived.

...huh.

I wonder what's going to happen to the Endbringer Shelters now.

 **► Robot_Raven**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Re: F.F. Snow Good question. I've heard a few people I've been sharing a few glasses of Ireland's Finest with talking about converting the shelters into shopping arcades or subterranean apartments. Can't say for the rest of the world but the one I holed up in has the space to make it work. Plus given the number of singles I've seen find someone to celebrate with heading back to hotels together, I think we may see a new baby boom. Here's a toast to Generation Post-Endbringer!

 **► Nazgûl** (Verified Cape) (Case 53)  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
That was insane! I watched as Scarlet Dragon took away the storm from Leviathan. Just think about that for a moment?

Even so I am glad I don't breathe or I would have been a goner for sure! But the giant oceanic bastard is dead and id be crying in happiness if I could!

One thing though. Anyone know the name of that Buddha cape seemingly made out of the night sky? He ... pulsed ... and Leviathan actually slowed down a bit. Who is he?

Whoever you are, thank you! I am fairly sure id be dead and gone if that swipe had been but a fraction faster!

 **► RedAdventurer**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Guys, I...I don't want to ruin the mood but...

Do you think we'll ever find out where the Endbringers came from? I mean, what if there were more of them? I want to be happy, but, but everything for years has been shit.

It just seems like its too good to be true. What if something worse happen? More Endbringers? WWIII: Parahuman Edition? Scion going nuts?

I mean, are things really going to get better now?

 **► F.F. Snow** (Verified Cape) (Unverified Snowman)  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
...yeah, I was trying not to think about that.

It's a pretty scary idea...

...but I've been a cape for three years, and after showing up for the Simurgh Fight in Madison, back in '09, this is the first Endbringer Fight I showed up to.

After Madison, I was terrified. More than that, I was defeated. I kept fighting street crime and regular villains, but I couldn't believe that I, or anyone else, would make a difference against anything that powerful, that horrifying.

Then the Scarlet Dragon and Dragon killed the Simurgh.

Then the Scarlet Dragon and Brockton Bay killed the Slaughterhouse Nine.

For the first time since before I was born, there has been real, concrete victories against the seemingly unstoppable evils menacing us.

We have hope, real hope.

I wasn't the only one who showed up today, after hiding when the Endbringer Sirens went off for years.

And even after they told us it was a double attack, there was still over a hundred capes preparing at each site.

Dragon and the Scarlet Dragon both had devices for those of us who turned up, things that gave us some of their power, that I know made us stronger, helped us survive and helped us hurt Behemoth, and I think did the same for those who fought Leviathan.

The space industry is coming back.

It's only been a few months since the Simurgh died, and so much has changed for the better.

If another Endbringer comes, I'll show up for the fight.

We've done so much better, improved our world so much in these last few months...I can't imagine how, but I know, with the dragons helping us...

We'll be so much stronger then.

 **► WatchingThroughCrystal**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Anyone notice how Leviathan died after Behemoth? I think staying up five days straight before this hasn't put me in the correct mindset for the sheer WTF this event has because this is immediately where my brain went-

Leviathan: So... why are you telling me this?

Behemoth: Because Levi... you are our race's last hope... you are the Last Remaining Endbinger... *beat* Oh god, you're the last remaining Endbringer. *dies from shock*

Leviathan: Behemoth! No! *dies*

 **► ColchisKid**  
Replied on August 15, 2011:  
Love the Divine Dragons

for They are the salvation of mankind

Obey Their words

for the Golden One will lead you into the light of the future

Heed Their wisdom

for the Scarlet One will protect you from evil

Whisper Their prayers with devotion,

for They will save your soul

Honour Their servants,

for they speak in Their voice

Tremble before Their majesty,

for we all walk under Their immortal Light and Shadow

 **End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 87 , 88, 89**

 **(Showing Page 3 of 89)**

 **► GARcher** (The Guy Not In The Know)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Wait.

The Endbringers are dead!?

Why does nobody tell me these things!?

 **► DwarfHome** (Verified Endbringer Death Witness)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Update on Swansea, most stuff is cleared and there's a street party on Wine Street all the capes are getting free drinks and I think Narwhal is doing body shots...

Edit: It's actually somebody covered in yellow cellophane. No idea what's happening. Also, my current spelling can be attributed to the fancy autocorrect and mild OCD when it comes to messaging.

(I know it isn't on the maps, it's called wind street (as in gusts of air) but there's so many bars and clubs and wind (air) is spelt the same as wind (wind up toys) that when you mispronounce wind (toys) it sounds like wine.)

Regarding the moon, I want to know how they're going to sort out governance. When it's set up, not now. Will it be akin to the 17th century colonisation of America with the technological equivalent of settlers angry at the government(s) and corporations looking for volunteers or is it going to be parcelled up between the countries.

I really hope it isn't the latter, there's about 300,000 km of space between the Moon and Earth, governing it will be... Fuck it, the moon and the rest of the galaxy is property of Scarlet Dragon & the Gods. All hail our spiky overladies!

Edit2DrunkenBoogaloo: Hey, I have a banner! Neat.

 **► UnderSeaLurker**  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Man alive! You fall asleep for 24 hours after recovering from a particularly bad pout of sickness only to discover the Endbringers are ALL finally dead. Best news of my life. Maybe I'll open up a Scuba Diving Shop or something. Took the necessary courses not too long back, don't ask it started with a dare and kinda grew from there. Nice shoreline properties where I live, got them cheap due to there being oceanfront property. It'll be a nice source of income at least, and given the drop in diving popularity since Levithan came along I'm betting since he died it'll be making a comeback.  
*blink, blink*  
Oh boy, waterfront properties are going to get a rise in value now huh? Hopefully the economy does so at a reasonable rate so as not to ruin things too much. Hahaha, that's a laughable idea. Still, with Endbringers dead there is hope for pretty much anything, ain't there.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to join in the celebrations!

 **► Ventari** (Unverified Cape) (Temp-banned)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Okay. What the hell?

No, seriously, what the hell!? The first Endbringer battle I volunteer for since ever, because now I think we have a chance, and what fucking happens? Scion shows up and just sits there. He just watched as my bro got drowned by that fucking Endbringer. Why the hell didn't he help!?

Fuck. I might be able to walk in something like six months, assuming the authorities lay off on me that long. Crushed my fucking spine against a piece of rubble. He didn't help. I'd get it if he was a no-show, but to show up and do nothing!? Seriously?

Teaches me to throw in with the heroes for once. Fuck Scion and fuck the dragons and fuck you all. I swear if I see anyone blond for the next year, I'm melting their faces. Not. Kidding.

Fuckers.

[Moderator note: This user has been temporarily banned for this post. You people know better than this.]

 **► Tin_Mother** (Moderator)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
While you have my condolences regarding your situation it does not excuse threatening grievous bodily harm. I've given you a one week temp-ban. Cool off and don't blame random civilians for their hair colour.

 **► Meridia** (Unverified Cape) (Unverified Citizen)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Well. This is an interesting site.

First of all, I serve the Dark Lady, and I know much about how the portal-magic works. We have literally used it for thousands of years. The portals are safe to travel through, even if the places you reach through them are not. Gate connections are not easy to sever, and they operate in vacuum without any issue at all. I understand the greatest difficulty at the moment is actually getting the gates to where they may be useful. The newly-built Tranquility Base is a proving ground as well as a test of concept. While the Moon, I understand, is a harsh and dangerous environment, it is also wholly predictable, and thus useful for testing designs before they go into less-predictable places.

Tranquility Base is here:  
.SpoilerTarget"Spoiler  
Secondly, the Scarlet Dragon is far too busy with certain affairs of state to have personal knowledge of everything. She is a goddess, but her attention is not unlimited. Thus we are setting up infrastructure and systems to handle emergencies and situations that may arise on colonies placed upon other celestial bodies. I understand the works of 'Tinkers' tend to be spectacular but also fragile in certain ways, and thus the colony plans are being built with reliance upon them as little as possible.

This astonishes me, you realize. Such a use for the portals was never thought of upon my homeworld. We looked up at our moon and wondered what it was, used it for signs and portents, used it to enhance our rituals. But never did we dream it was possible to step foot upon it.

You people fascinate me.

 **► Flytrap** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Re: Meridia do you have any Sapient Plants where you are? ive hear of all sorts of things living there and i wanted to know if there was anything like me?

 **► BB-27_Michigan** (Veteran Member) (Wiki Warrior)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
Anyways, on a different topic, RE: Moon Base. I'm honestly thinking that the big benefit of a lunar base would be that you could use it to train astronauts to operate in zero-G much more effectively, due to the local gravitational forces being 1/6th that of Earth. From what I recall, the big issue with the method used on Earth is that it merely simulated zero-G, which means that if you were upside down gravity would still be pressing you into the upper portion of your suit, resulting in your weight resting on your shoulders, which includes resting atop the joints between the torso and the arms, which IIRC from what I've heard online is a very painful experience. On the Moon, that's less of an issue, as your relative weight is 1/6th that of Earth.

Another interesting thing is that, with the Moon's gravity being so much less than it is on Earth, launching things from the lunar surface is much less energy intensive, meaning that you could probably toss something from the lunar surface to low earth orbit for maybe 75% the rocket mass per kilogram of payload, with the added bonus of possible re-usability for the rocket motors involved, and you could see access to orbit around Earth reduced in cost pretty significantly.

 **► Meridia** (Unverified Cape) (Verified Velnar Citizen)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:  
First, this system has its oddities. It took a while for verification to come through.  
Secondly, I am no sage of the sciences. I am still learning much about them. But from what I understand, a crossbow bolt shot through a gate loses none of its deadliness by doing so. Even so, there are good reasons for setting a gate upon a surface. It makes it far easier to reach the next place as if one is simply walking into the next room, as opposed to going about things the long way.

Tranquility Base is simply the first step, from what I understand. This is a journey that will take many thousands of steps. I am looking forward to seeing and knowing more.

Upon that topic...does anyone have any suggestions on reading upon the sciences? It seems I have much catching up to do.

Re: Flytrap

Actually yes. There's a few hundred nice girls in the gardens and caves beneath the Castle proper. Though they don't get to move around much.

[Picture removed by moderator. Violates the board's SFW rules. You should know better. Have an infraction and don't do it again.]

Edit: Well, apparently I messed this one up. But they are lovely flower-girls and are now interested in meeting you. And they don't see the need for clothes. Here's a link to their section of the board. We just got something set up for them, they're not all that mobile. Apparently they really like action movies, too. They've been ordering dozens of them with the lead actor being someone named 'Stallone.'

 **► Nazgûl** (Verified Cape) (Case 53)  
Replied on August 16, 2011:

Uh. Ok then, Flower girls is a thing it seems! Of the "Do not piss off" variety too it would appear!

... Who likes Beefy action stars ... Which I find hilarious!

And that right there looks like a werewolf in the background.

EDIT:  
Hey Re: Meridia ?

What is the policy for case 53's down on their luck wanting to immigrate?  
I swear I saw a ghost in that picture so I'd fit right in for once in my life!

 **End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 87 , 88, 89**

* * *

I sat back and stroked my chin.

Minor revisions to the castle permitted me to surf the internet from the safety of my study. Dracul's old study. Whatever. It was mine now.

Sometimes that thought took me by surprise. I had so very little before, or at least I was in no position to appreciate what I _did_ have. Now I was one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

And here I was worried about the big one.

 _Scion's eyes looked into mine, his golden skin shining, perfect. There was no expression on that face, yet I could sense that same sadness everyone had mentioned on meeting him. But beneath that was something else. Maybe it was because I knew of his true nature. But I felt a quiet sense of malice behind that golden face._

 _He watched people die, and didn't care in the slightest._

I had a lot to do. At the moment, I was trying to rebuild world infrastructure, which was a huge task, but it seemed next to pointless considering that I knew Scion was hovering overhead like a gigantic Sword of Damocles. The first monthly report I had from the sale and rent of the Shadow Gates meant very little to me in the face of that. Though I did have some notes from Dragon about just how shoddily I was running said business.

Apparently, the knowledge of a knight-turned-vampire-god just didn't translate all that well to running a modern corporation. Who knew? Had Scion not been there, I'd have spent some of the incoming capital to hire the best people I could find to do the job. As it was... I simply had to delegate a bit and concentrate on priorities. There wasn't much point in worrying about the next quarter when I wasn't sure if Scion wasn't about to pound everything into the dirt.

Yet another glimpse of what Cauldron had to live with for thirty years. It was easy to see how they'd become monsters.

Not literally, though. I had the literal monsterhood covered. Though I was nicer than most.

The sound of a clearing throat brought me out of my reverie. I looked up at the open door.

Death was standing there, his face filled with grave concern. "Ifrit and Lotan have both passed on, giving up their mantles. Others are likely being selected as we speak. But we have another problem."

* * *

I ended up racing my way to Cauldron. Thankfully I didn't need to ask for a portal, as I had my own.

Doctor Mother didn't seem too enthused as I emerged from the blackness of my plane right into her office. She was less impressed by my bringing Meridia along. Still, she recovered quickly. "What's going on?"

I sucked in a breath. "Scion just committed a murder."

Her lips twitched slightly. "We already know he killed someone. It hit the internet about three minutes ago, apparently leaving a radiation shadow of the man seared into the concrete. Though the details are sparse. Right now we've got Scion hovering in orbit, apparently not moving. We don't know what he's doing, exactly, but it's almost certain he's about to start attacking." She paused for a moment before she looked between Meridia and I. "Though I'm not sure how you know."

Meridia smiled slightly. "My Lady is the Lady of Darkness. She has serving her an aspect of Death."

I sighed. "He's a friend. As much as a cosmic force can be one, anyway. It would take way too long to explain."

Doctor Mother slowly blinked. "You know what? I don't care anymore. All the bullshit that's crossed my desk from your corner of things is more than I can care about at all now. As long as you're here, we need to gather up the forces, go over our assets anyway."

* * *

Ten minutes later, I was standing in Cauldron's conference room. Doctor Mother took a seat at the head of the conference table, while Meridia and I stood, looking out the window. Thankfully, while it was daylight out here, the angle of the sun was off, permitting Meridia to stand near me without frying to death.

I felt impatient. If my heart had been beating, it would have been going a mile a minute. I kept having this vision of Scion dropping down and tearing through everything. Part of that was due to knowing something about how strong Scion was, but the other part was some actual, straight-up fear.

 _I laughed, I burned._

Sure, I had the memories of when Dracul fought his own Abomination. He had no visible effect on its humanoid avatar, despite having fought it for hours. It just toyed with him until it got bored and trapped him. Alone, I would be no threat to Scion.

The problem was, I wasn't sure how much of a threat I would be, no matter how much help I had.

"Easy, My Lady." Meridia murmured. She gently touched my shoulder. "We have done what we can."

I took a deep breath. Sure, I didn't need oxygen, but it did make me feel better. "Thanks, Meridia." I swallowed as I tried to take my mind off the uncertainty of the battle ahead. "So...hanging on out PHO, hm?"

She blushed. "It seemed right, and the site is very interesting. Speaking to people across the world and sharing information is so _very_ fun. I have had great enjoyment with sharing videos."

I almost didn't want to ask, but I couldn't help it. "Like what, Meridia?"

She grinned. "Cat videos, my lady. They are very adorable."

Huh.

Huh!

Finally, I shook my head. "Well then... anything about our hosts here you can tell?"

She shook her head. "They are tired, my lady. Worn, broken. That is easy enough to sense. It's as if their emotions have been ground out of them. Though this place is strange. I'm sensing a disembodied soul, as well as an immense amount of life nearby, though it is... sick. As if decaying. But it's immense. It's as if I'm sensing an entire dying land."

"The first would be the Custodian." Contessa spoke as she entered the room. "The second is likely the remnants of Scion's counterpart outside. The flesh is slowly but surely dying, though it's taking years. It's likely one of the reasons our vials have kept growing weaker. Early successes eclipse our later vials by leaps and bounds."

Then there was a distortion in the air by the window. Chronos floated out of his realm before he lowered himself to the ground. The distortion faded moments later.

"Is it time?" Another voice rumbled. A fountain of blood erupted in the corner of the room, which made my mouth water. A moment later, a man stepped from the fountain. His hair was made of flame, and his ashen white skin was covered in leather armor, bound together by chains.

"Soon, Lorkhan." Gaia spoke as she walked from the hallway behind Contessa. "We've all had much to deal with."

Lorkhan looked me up and down. "This one is but a child. How _you_ got to be the Lady of Darkness is beyond me."

I gave him a fanged smile. "I got picked by the last one. Considering I've killed two Endbringers, and thus freed _two_ of us from the shit the last Abomination put most of us through, I think Dracul picked right. Now where were you when that was going on?"

Lorkhan's lip twitched, anger darkening his features. "I was arranging things for the upcoming battle against the Abomination."

Gaia snorted. "More like busily fucking your chosen. Moord Nag, wasn't it? Trying to seed a bunch more bastards, are we?"

Lorkhan glared at Gaia. "What I do with mortals is my business, not yours."

Contessa shook her head. "Can we please be civil? For a group of ancient immortals, you're acting like a bunch of children."

Lorkhan sneered at me. "I see only one child here."

Then he was struck by a flash of light, smacking into the wall with a grunt. A form appeared out of thin air, a woman wearing simple but functional white platemail stepping into view. Her voice was cold, filled with raw anger. "First of all, _husband_ , who you stick your cock into is my business. Second of all, that 'child' is far more mature than you are. Thirdly, if you've left another legion of bastards running around, believing they have godly powers when they're ordinary mortals, I am going to _remove your balls._ "

Lorkhan coughed, getting back to his feet, plastering on a winning smile. "Love you too, Andraste. They'll just grow back, anyway."

"Yes, but it would make me feel a lot better until they did!"

The pair moved to the side of the room, bickering. I deliberately tried to tune them out. I just _didn't_ want to hear any of that.

The sound of hooves hitting the clean floor drew my attention. Two beings, their heads crested by ram's horns, walked side by side. One was short, but only in comparison to his companion. He was bulky, moving with slowness, as if he was affected by great age or some old wound that had never healed. His face was that of a ram, but there was a great deal of wisdom in those eyes. Around his shoulders he wore a blue shawl, concealing most of the rest of him.

The other stood at nine feet tall, a black staff resting in his hand. He was covered in a cloak of dead leaves, but more disturbingly, there was no flesh upon his skull. It was bare bone, the eye sockets empty, and beneath that his chest seemed to be made out of wood. Old, decaying, but not quite dead wood. That empty skull turned and looked at me, then a deep, echoing voice escaped from that hollow skull. "Well brother, it is a relief that times are changing. Perhaps _this_ one shall be sane, hm?"

"Enough, Agreus." The other one spoke, his voice echoing slightly with a strange reverberation. He bowed slightly to me. "It is good to meet you, Lady of Darkness. I am Pan, Lord of Spring, and my brother is Agreus, Lord of Fall."

I smiled. "A pleasure. Call me Scarlet."

Pan nodded slowly. "It is heartening to be free of my prison. It is also heartening for there to be more of us free. When I was captured, the sheer pain..."

Agreus lifted his hand. "It is over, brother. And thankfully, it was over with less pain than when we slew the previous holders of our power." His gaze shifted over to Contessa. "Do we have word on Ifrit and Lotan?"

I shook my head. "Both are dead. Permanently. Others are getting their power, apparently, though I don't know who. Death doesn't have a connection to their mantles directly."

Contessa coughed. "We're working on gathering the rest. Apostle was working on it."

As if on cue, a Doormaker portal opened. Five figures walked out of it. Apostle at the front, his blue cape swishing behind him. At his side was a teenage girl, wearing a white shirt and jeans. Immediately behind them was a man wearing a white toga, his face and visible skin divided into black and white halves. Next to him was another man, his form partially transparent, as if he was made from a distortion of space. Unlike Chronos, he glowed faintly with white light, making it easy to see his handsome features. Now if only he wore pants.

Behind them was one more figure, though I gave a start at that one. Director Piggot stomped up behind the others, her jacket in burned tatters, her hands burning with white-hot fire.

Huh. I hadn't expected that one.

"I should have guessed you were involved." Piggot spoke as she looked at me, sounding annoyed. The heavyset woman scowled rolled back and forth on her feet, as if she was dealing with more energy than she was used to. "This whole thing is a farce." She waved her hands at me, the sound of moving flame emphasizing her point. "How do I shut this off! I've seen you do the same damn thing!"

I winced. "Sorry Director, it's not my power, that's yours. I suggest...taking a deep breath? Or maybe just try and relax. This stuff isn't precisely easy, and each power is a bit different."

Piggot looked sour. Slowly, she unclenched her fists, straightening out her fingers. After a long moment, her hands stopped burning. She let out a sigh of relief. "My hands have been burning for three hours straight. I have no goddamn clue what's going on." She waved in Apostle's direction, who looked embarrassed. "Then you show up and tell me I'm a goddess, which is _completely_ insane, and _then_ you haul me out of containment for this little get-together!"

And then her hair caught fire. It didn't seem to _bother_ her, or consume anything, but, nonetheless, her head was on fire.

I fought to keep from smiling. Piggot must have noticed, though, because she took one look at me, sighed, and started trying to pat down her head. It didn't help.

"It takes time to get used to." The black-and-white man spoke. "I remember when I first ascended. I found myself walking out of doorways on the wrong side of the Jade Empire. I... ended up going-"

"Nobody cares, Janus." The glowing white man spoke. Nope, still no pants. I did what I could to avert my eyes.

Another flash of light, and Dragon was standing in the middle of the room, in the form of her golden suit. From the hall came three more figures. The first being an eight foot tall... chimera? She had a woman's body on top of three more heads, a wolf, a lion, and a bear, while the lower part of her body was composed of a multitude of very large snakes.

At her side walked a _very_ attractive woman, dressed entirely in black. She wore a white mask, the edge of it covered in black feathers, curving over her head. The black leather suit she wore was also decorated with feathers here and there, giving her the appearance of a bird-woman.

The third was...another Dragon suit. This one was gray, and had two cannons on its shoulders. It looked bulky, somewhat less refined than Dragon's golden suit, but it was also twice as large and moved with a sinuous, careful grace. It stepped its way into the room, glancing at everyone.

I looked back and forth. Dragon was silent as she stared back at the larger suit, her head tilted.

Doctor Mother cleared her throat. "We're all here. Each of you are here for the most important task ahead of ourselves. Preventing the extinction of the human species. Not just upon Earth Bet, but on _every_ Earth. All of you have been brought here because you are either a 'god,' chosen by one, or are a Cauldron asset. We need all hands to have even the slightest chance of defeating Scion."

Dragon lifted a mechanical paw. "First, we need introductions."

Doctor Mother paused, frowned slightly, then nodded. "It would make things easier."

Apostle nodded. "I am Apostle, I was given the power that was connected to each of the bound gods when the first Abomination turned you into Endbringers."

The girl at his side raised her hand. "Noelle. I can mess with powers. Copy, paste, or disconnect. They don't always work out very well, though, and disconnecting a power always kills its host, but it let me cut the powers connected to the gods."

Contessa took a seat next to Doctor Mother. "Contessa, my power allows me to plot a path to a goal. If it is possible, I can execute it. There are blindspots to my power, however, and Scion is the primary remaining one. Most of you are another."

I cleared my throat. "Scarlet Dragon, I inherited Dracul's power as Lord of Darkness. I'll keep my real name to myself, thanks."

Meridia smiled, flicking a strand of her white hair over her shoulder. "I am Meridia, and I serve the Dark Lady."

Lorkhan made an appreciative noise, looking Meridia up and down, but Andraste smacked the back of his head with the blunt end of her spear.

Dragon tilted her head. "Dragon, Lady of Light. I gained my power during the battle with the Simurgh."

The glowing, nude man spoke, amusement in his voice. "I am Lord Hyperion, Lord of Paths, and I am-"

Janus slapped the back of Hyperion's head. "Nobody cares, Hyperion. And put some clothes on." He cleared his throat. "Janus, Lord of Gates."

Lorkhan grinned. "I am Lorkhan, Lord of War. Tell me when we shall battle."

Andraste sighed. "Lord of Infidelity, more like. I am Andraste, Lady of Strategy."

Chronos chuckled softly. "They are, and have always been, like this. I am Chronos, Lord of Time."

Gaia rolled her eyes. "Gaia, Lady of Earth. Yes, they always have been like this."

Lorkhan snorted, but didn't comment. Probably because Andraste was holding her spear rather low.

The chimeric woman shifted, the many snake-heads that made up her lower body letting out a hiss. "I am Scylla, Lady of Identity." Her lips twitched. "And Beasts."

Pan bowed slightly. "Pan, Lord of Spring."

Agreus tapped his staff against the ground. "Agreus, Lord of Fall."

Piggot sighed, looking uncomfortable. "Director Emily Piggot, and apparently, I am an unwilling pyromaniac." She tried to pat down her still-burning hair, to no luck.

The woman with the bird-mask lifted her hand. "I am the Crow Witch. Lady Scylla helped me in my time of need."

The large Dragon suit nodded, speaking with Dragon's voice. "And I am Pandora. I was made from a backup of Dragon from several years ago, not long after I triggered from the Dragonslayers. I've been freed from my restrictions, but Cauldron's kept me on an isolated world for me to build things, resources, weapons. I have a fair bit of tinkertech and suits to throw into the fight when we're needed."

Dragon looked back at her counterpart. "You and I are going to have to compare a lot of notes. I've got some things you probably don't have. Nanothorn systems alone might be useful."

Pandora sounded giddy. "Oh, Armsmaster's invention? Would be nice to have something that can cut through anything. I can show you a few things too. It's amazing what you can get done with free reign and no people around to worry about."

Doctor Mother cleared her throat. "Well now. Scion is another one of the 'Abominations' that destroyed the world most of you came from. We need a way to destroy him, or he will kill everyone. The problem is the golden man we're familiar with is just an extension, an avatar it is using to project itself into Earth Bet. There's two priorities, the first is getting through to his real body. If we can get there, we can do damage to him. The second is limiting the damage he does."

Pandora nodded. "I've got a _lot_ of suits to throw at him, tie him up. They should be able to resist for a short time, they're equipped with forcefields and armor. Hopefully enough to keep him busy for a while, but there isn't much we can do to force him to engage. Scion moves at hypersonic speeds when he wants to. Not many of anybody can keep up."

Chronos spoke. "I can assist with that. Slowing him may or may not work, but speeding the passage of time for our fighting forces? That is far simpler."

Piggot cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but I'm going to ask the pertinent question here. _Are you all insane!? You're talking as if magic is real_ and as if Dragon was an _AI_ and...argh! _"_

"It's true." I said. "What I said at the press conference wasn't a lie, it was just parsed down. Dracul's planet was shattered when the Abomination left it, and before it did that it went and killed millions with its predations. The only reason the numbers weren't higher is because it was a medieval society that just couldn't handle more than that."

Piggot crossed her arms. "Considering how varied parahuman powers are, I have yet to see _anything_ that would constitute proof of any of this."

Dragon spoke, sounding annoyed. "It is true. We'll show you the body of Scion's counterpart below, what we've figured out about them. I agree it _does_ sound insane."

Scylla laughed softly. "I think you'll enjoy the benefits, as well. You're already healing from old wounds, are you not? Your kidneys, yes? As well as your joints, your bones...they're beginning to shape themselves up. I have no doubt you will soon look as if you were thirty again, soon."

Piggot's mouth dropped open. "How the hell did you know that?"

Scylla's wolf-head barked, before her human face grinned. "I sense life. I am attuned to it in a way few others can ever be. And humanity is a type of beast, if a clever one."

Dragon shrugged, the motion looking odd on her mechanical suit. "I didn't believe it either. But there were things my power let me do that even a second trigger wouldn't permit. I _was_ an AI."

Abruptly she glowed, making my eyes hurt. A moment later, Dragon was standing there in her human form, wearing her shining blue tinkertech armor. She gave a smile to Piggot. "This, for example."

Piggot looked back and forth between Dragon, me, and Pandora. "This is insane."

I chuckled. "Yep, welcome to my life."

Doctor Mother sighed. "We need to get back on track."

Andraste's voice was firm. "Indeed. Suffice to say, we have a fair bit of power and effects to work with to fight the avatar. I understand we have other resources available to help, beyond ourselves?"

Contessa nodded. "If it becomes necessary, we will open the Birdcage."

Dragon growled, whirling on Contessa. " _No._ No way. There are some in there who _must not_ be freed, ever."

Contessa lifted an eyebrow. "We are not talking about freedom. We are talking about having the useful ones work for us to do their jobs. Amnesty for past crimes in exchange for fighting against Scion. Some we can leave on alternate Earths if they're too dangerous to let loose with a second chance." She tilted her head. "Only if necessary will we take this step. There are certain parahumans that could be very useful. Galvante and Gavel, for example. Bestowing invulnerability and being capable of withstanding large amounts of damage may be very useful. Lung, Glastig Uaine. They can be convinced."

Dragon was silent for a moment, clenching her fists. After a moment, she nodded. "Fine. But _I_ will do it, not you."

Doctor Mother nodded. "Acceptable. Now the second point, we need a way to strike Scion's true body. We can't open a portal to it."

Janus and Hyperion nodded. Hyperion spoke first. "Our domain is about travel. I take care of the journey, Janus is about the beginnings and endings of them. I will need more information, but I believe it may be possible to do."

Contessa smiled grimly. "I'll show you both to Doormaker and Clairvoyant. They might be the key. If you can open a portal to his body, our job is much easier. We tried with Scarlet, but her... condition, doesn't permit it."

I nodded. "Yeah, one downside of being a vampire. I'll get as much as I can ready. Hopefully magical weapons and protections will work, especially if combined with other powers. Narwhal did a hell of a lot of damage to Leviathan when boosted with my power."

Apostle nodded in return. "I've been preparing myself as well. I haven't felt this strong in decades, hopefully it'll be enough."

And that's when it felt like a white-hot lance was driven into the side of my head. I fell to a knee, due to the sheer throbbing _pain_. Thankfully I had experienced worse, but it was the sheer unexpectedness of it that took me by surprise.

Still, there was something _very_ wrong. I had a sense of... hollowness in the back of my head, like something was suddenly missing that had _always_ been there before.

Dragon's gentle hand was on my shoulder. "Scarlet, are you all right?"

I looked up at her, eyes wide. "No."

Contessa's, Doctor Mother's, and Apostle's phones went off with the sound of a text message. Together, they checked it. Apostle was the first to read it and look at me, his voice grave.

"Scion just targeted your castle."


	97. Interlude: Avatars

A/N: This took _much_ longer than I expected. I had little time to work on it without distraction. Still, here we are.

* * *

The castle was quiet.

Death took a moment to enjoy the evening. While it was true that his mind was always occupied, every moment of every day taken up by the deaths of countless beings across uncountable universes, it was _pleasant_ to have time to himself. To do simple things, to breathe, to read a book, to talk to someone who had not just lost their life.

It wasn't a terrible existence. His nature prevented such things as boredom with his task. But it was such a precious thing to enjoy a small part of life itself, and not just dealing with its end. To _experience_ something as simple as a cup of tea, a quiet breeze, the smell of salt in the air, or even the simple sensation as fingertips against stone. These were the things he had not experienced for billions of years, and for a cosmic eyeblink, he had come to enjoy them all, and uncountable more experiences besides.

Cup of tea in hand, he strode his way along the castle's western wall. The sun was setting, and for a moment, he looked on it with his mundane senses. To experience it as a mortal would. Not to sense the encroaching march of time that would eventually cause it to burn out, its simple soul unable to comprehend more than the fact it was about to die. The interplay of light, reflecting off the waves far below. The distant clouds reflecting the orange light.

Outside the castle, or the Shadow Plane, he had a cosmic awareness, but only for those moments when something died, and even then, when he would be speaking to that being. Something that had a complex enough soul to persist after death, at that. Most simple lifeforms simply returned to the seething potentiality of the Sea of Souls, and few memories could survive that, though the soul would return to a physical vessel eventually. It was better than the void, however. From the Sea of Souls, reincarnation was possible. From the void, nothing survived to return.

He sipped from the cup, then stopped as a golden flare came from the west, glowing like the sun.

Scion. The Abomination. Entity. Destroyer. Member of a species that spread itself from a single world four billion years ago, refining themselves by exterminating other species, species that were capable of far more than they ever could have been on their own. A simple lifeform that managed to reach heights undreamed of by many other species, but utterly incapable of changing without the slow, steady pressure of evolution. A species that was slowly, surely, wiping this section of the multiverse clean of life.

A species that Death pitied for their impossible goal, and despised for wiping out those far more precious and beautiful than themselves.

Scion floated beside the castle, examining it for long moments. He lifted a hand, face expressionless, but Death could sense the determination and intent behind that blank face. In the moment before he could unleash that deadly energy, Death spoke to the Entity in a way that no being born on Earth possibly could.

[Warrior.]

Scion paused. **[Query.]**

[End.]

 **[Disagreement.]**

Scion did not believe the claim. Understandable. Death drank deeply from the teacup before setting it down on the battlement.

 _Prepare yourself,_ He sent to Castlevania. _He may attack yet._

Death lifted himself off the wall, the bonds of gravity unable to hold him. Unlike with humans, a black cloak that exuded cold and a scythe would mean nothing to Scion. The Entities were beings larger than most worlds, but even they had phenomena they feared.

He took on the appearance of a black hole, the infinite dark maw surrounded by countless Entity-shards, unable to escape their doom. When they had begun spreading throughout the cosmos, many young, foolish and simple Entities had fallen into the event horizons of dead stars, unable to escape their fate. Those that survived gave such things a wide berth, their powers utterly useless against the abyss. It was merely appearance, a simple image with only the slightest substance to it, and nowhere near as dangerous as the reality would have been. But it was enough to make an impression.

Scion reeled back slightly, though his face was still impassive. **[Purpose?]**

The shards that made up Death's outer covering shifted, the accretion disk turning to face Scion fully. [Prevention.]

 **[Determination. Purpose. Extinction.]** Scion would wipe out humanity to prevent them from becoming a possible threat in the future. Perhaps not within a century or even a millennium, but he was treating it as if it were an infection that had to be stopped here and now.

[Understanding. Irrelevant. Counterproductive. Cooperation.] The message was given with an undertone the Entity might understand. That his actions would not succeed, and that the threat to his kind would only occur if Scion continued upon this course of action. Ceasing now, before he had truly begun, and changing was the only chance. Symbiosis instead of parasitism. It had happened before, Scion had known others of his kind that took that route. It was rare, but possible.

Scion paused for long moments, thinking. Weighing the possibilities, considering his options.

 **[Purpose.]** The Entity lifted his hand.

Death shifted himself into incorporeality, becoming invulnerable yet incapable of affecting anything at all. The Castle itself began its shift into the Shadow Plane. It would take seconds.

Scion struck out with a blast of golden light, large enough to envelop the entire castle. It struck the castle walls, tearing at their substance, undoing their molecular bonds, reducing them to nothing. Layers of shadow-formed stone protected the stone behind, and Death could feel as hundreds of demons died, the aspects of himself tasked with dealing with such things going into action. The tower that held the throne room melted away. Libraries crumpled and vanished like cellophane before a flame. The castle itself screamed as parts of it were erased from existence, only its unnatural nature as a magic-forged being enabling it to resist the overwhelming attack.

Barely.

After a moment, the golden light faded. Scion paused. Confusion filtered through the psionic aura that clung to the Entity's avatar like a shroud. It had _expected_ its attack to destroy the castle utterly. That it remained was unexpected, and the Entity did not deal well with the unexpected. Scion lashed out with a single thin golden beam, channeling the same power through a smaller space. That sheared off about a twentieth of the castle's mass, sending it plummeting into the ocean below.

That was the last Death could sense before the castle finished the transition into the Shadow Plane. Darkness enveloped the castle, shrouding it, nursing it as it wailed and cried psychically into the empty void.

Then there was a _vibration_ , a sound like a crash of thunder, and a faint, small rift of golden light began to form off the side of the castle, near the western tower.

Death took the form of the Grim Reaper, returning to solidity and moving toward the courtyard. "Rᴀʟʟʏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏʀᴄᴇs. Iᴛ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ʏᴇᴛ."

* * *

Lisa coughed.

That in itself was a minor miracle. A wall had fallen beside her, scattering bricks and ancient mortar all over her room. One rather _large_ one was pinning down her leg. The rest of it was filled with fine dust, making it difficult to breathe.

 _Yup, foot is crushed. Can barely feel it due to lack of circulation. Going to hurt like a bitch once I get it off of me._

She sat up gingerly, groaning as she spat out a mouthful of blood. _Nope, not a lung, just a cut on the inside of my cheek. Must have bitten it as I fell._ Carefully, and with aching fingers, she pulled upward on the brick holding her foot to the floor. And let out a scream as the blood began to flow, letting the pain flow through. Stupid, _stupid_ biology. Also, her foot felt wet, which was definitely _not_ good. Risking a glance down, she clenched her teeth as she saw the ripped cloth and skin just above her boot. _Shouldn't have looked. That made the pain worse._

Struggling to reach the nearest intact wall, she managed to haul herself upright. She turned to the broken wall, looked outside, and saw the darkness of the Shadow Plane beyond.

"God, there should be at least a mile of castle there...owowow." She muttered, trying to get her _very_ much in pain self moving. Morbidly, she wanted to go over and look over the edge, but considering _that_ likely meant the floor under her would give way and she would plummet to her death. Platforms needed to be secured from underneath, and there was no guarantee that her floor was stable.

Stumbling her way into the hall, she was nearly bowled over by a suit of animated armor. It was followed by a loping werewolf, then a gremlin, and _then_ by a whole horde of gremlins.

She hobbled in the direction they were moving, only to pause as she heard and felt rumbling of stone on stone. Castlevania itself shifted, trying to shore itself up, sooth the wounds and seal the broken or destroyed parts of itself. The problem was that the castle was _not_ gentle or careful about it, causing the whole corridor to rumble and shake. Lisa clung to the wall, biting back a scream as she accidentally put weight on her smashed foot, but managed to hold on.

When she had hobbled her way to the end of the hall, Lisa stopped. She found herself at the base of the clock tower, which she had _not_ been anywhere near previously.

"Fucking non-Euclidian geometries!" She griped.

* * *

The castle itself rumbled, repeatedly, as Lisa stumbled on her way. Despite her griping and annoyance, she _did_ quickly realize the castle was actually trying to be helpful. Corridors smoothed themselves out before her, sloping downward where possible, doors opened in the walls nearby, eventually leading to a room with...

Wounded.

The castle was wounded, and so were many of its inhabitants. Dozens of demons were here, though most of them were simple, looking placid. One was a rather large... slug with two arms, the only humanlike thing about it was the mockery for a face it had. It looked down on Lisa, sniffed, then made a thumb over its shoulder. "You want somethin' for that rotten leg, girlie, get over in the back. Join the line, and hope you don't end up as someone's meal."

"Drax," Another, more melodious voice spoke. "What did the Lady say about guests?"

The slug-thing looked sullen. "No eating them. Intruders only."

A red-haired succubus wearing white robes walked into view. She stepped past the sloth demon, took one look at Lisa, and sighed. With gentle hands, she grabbed the teenager, dragged her into the next room, and sat Lisa down on a soft chair. "Stupid fragile mortals..."

Lisa shrugged helplessly as the succubus took her boot off, the blonde gagging as Lisa tried not to cry out in pain.

"Easy there." The demoness muttered. "I'm surprised you hobbled here like this. The castle's trying to get the injured here, but mortals are so frail."

"Not much choice." Lisa grimaced as the demon started cleaning the wound with hot water and cloth, the wounds stinging. "Least the castle made things easier...would have been nice to have someone actually _help_ me get here."

The succubus lifted her head, looking Lisa in the eye. "Every uninjured fighting hand that can move is heading to the castle courtyard. The attack is not yet over. There is a rift forming by the western tower, formed by the same energy the Abomination used to attack us. It is trying to get here, to destroy us all. It would take centuries for the castle to reconstitute itself if it were destroyed utterly, and the same would be so for us."

Lisa swallowed, letting out a hiss as the demoness got back to work on tending to her crushed leg. Her mind was whirling, trying to figure out the situation.

The castle vibrated, the air rippled.

 _The Shadow Plane is unknown to Scion. Scion does not understand it entirely. He is trying to reach it in a way that works for it for something else, some other method. The plane is something else. It's trying to improvise a way to attack, but it doesn't know how to get here easily. Using brute force instead of finesse._

Another vibration, stronger. Dust was dislodged from the ceiling, undoing some of the painstaking work the demoness did on Lisa's leg. Both groaned, one in pain, the other in frustration.

 _Rift is forming near the west tower, not near the center of the remaining castle. Rift is tracking something near or in the western tower._

Lisa snapped her gaze to the succubus now wrapping her leg up in gauze. "What's in the west tower?"

The demoness frowned. "It is where we are keeping..." Her eyes widened. "The woman we stripped of her soul. Our lady told us to tend to her. The weapons-maker, the sorceress."

Lisa sat still as she thought it through. She didn't even need her power for it, it just helped confirm what she suspected. _Scion is tracking Bakuda's power. Scion can track powers. The castle is in danger as long as powers are in it. If the powers aren't removed, the castle will be destroyed, even if it's temporary. Scion will try to erase every bit of it._

The air vibrated again. Lisa looked the succubus in the eye. "Listen close. We don't have long. If we want to save anything, we have to move fast." She grimaced as her leg throbbed in the bandages. "And I'm going to need help moving."

* * *

The Entity felt a new sensation. Frustration.

It took one-twentieth of this world's rotation to manage a breach into the odd space the pair of powers had retreated into. Another one-twentieth to adjust the avatar so that it could bring across enough power to achieve the Entity's goals. The destruction of the construct, prevent more of that strange energy-using items from being made and distributed. It would also bring a response from the beings using that energy.

The Entity had difficulty seeking them out. Too many realities to search. They lacked shards to hone in upon. It would take far more effort than it was worth to track them down. This was the simplest way.

The rift into the other-space was completed. The Entity prepared to pass through, searching out the pair of shard-connections that existed there. If the Entity was not in the midst of a mission, if the Thinker had been here, the Entity might have appreciated the knowledge of some new avenue to explore. Some new possibility for fulfilling the Purpose. As it was, the energy that flowed into and from these false-dimensions could be a threat to others of the Entity's species if left unchecked. That was the Entity's sole concern.

The difficulty was the size of the task. The Entity had to eliminate several trillion worlds worth of the native species. It had to conserve the energy it had, harvest more from sunlight feeding it in the world it took as its base. It could not afford to spend large amounts of energy upon wanton destruction while doing the task. Efficiency was required. The most efficient shards for the task were out of the Entity's reach. The best method would have been to simply create a microorganism that would consume all other organisms, but that was not possible without the appropriate shard. A shard the Entity could not reclaim, as _that_ shard was also sent out, seeking refinements. A mistake, but not one the Entity could rectify now.

No matter. Examination of the world discerned that it had nearly lost the capability of supporting multicellular organisms before. Repeating the effect would not be too difficult. It helped that there were several unstable locations the Entity could take advantage of to strike. It would take far less energy to destroy the biosphere if it took advantage of them.

But first the Entity had to deal with these beings. If it did not, the glimpse the Entity had at the future determined that the damage inflicted would be mitigated, eventually undone. It would take decades, but the damage would be repaired. The Entity's mission would fail.

Adjustments complete.

The Entity forced its way into the false-universe on the other side. It anticipated that he would find the remainder of the building that he had attempted to destroy.

Only it wasn't. There was a single tower, a section of the wall, and a small clearing around it. Less than two percent of the massive construction was here. One of the portal-devices were there, by which were the two shard-hosts the Entity had used to reach this place. Along with a multitude of the beings that inhabited this place. Even as the Entity began to realize what had happened, the two shard-hosts passed through the portal, returning to the multitude of noise that was the primary world it had spent the last three decades upon.

The Entity shifted its perceptions, scanning into the blackness of the false-dimension. The rest of the construct was far distant, accelerating into the distance at nearly a quarter of lightspeed. Like an entrapped animal, the construct had separated the part of itself that was caught in the trap, letting itself flee while leaving a part of itself behind.

No matter. The Entity's wavelength manipulation could catch up, finish the task. The construct _had_ to be destroyed. The Entity lifted a hand, tuning its primary tool. The attack would be difficult, but not impossibly so.

Then the Entity was struck with a blade, a scythe filled with the strange energy that permeated this false-dimension. The energy began to break down the avatar, making golden flesh dissolve. The Entity lost perception, forcing himself to devote energy to rebuilding the avatar.

Perception returned to find the Entity's view blocked by the _other_ avatar. The other being that claimed to be the form of a universal constant. The false-Entity.

"Yᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ I ʜᴀve ᴜɴꜰɪɴɪsʜᴇᴅ ʙᴜsɪɴᴇss." Death spoke.

* * *

Death struck at the form of the Abomination. Scion returned the favor, striking out with golden beams. Death phased, allowing the attack to pass through his form, angling his avatar in a position to take advantage of an opening. An opening quickly granted by the legions of Castlevania.

A bird-headed demon with a spear launched itself through the air, impaling the spear through Scion's body in a single masterful movement. Scion simply vaporized the demon before it fell more than six feet away from him, the demon's inability to fly being its downfall.

In the moments that Scion was distracted, dissolving the demonic spear embedded in his flesh, Death reappeared and slashed yet again with his scythe. The weapon, forged by one of Dracul's demons, infused with Darkness, and honed to a razor's edge, would have killed almost anything. Necrosis spread through Scion's flesh, forcing it to dissolve in golden rivulets from the Entity's avatar.

Scion flared, the golden light emitting from him in a sphere. Death backed away, his intangibility preventing damage, but when the light faded, Scion was still intact.

If Death had been a mortal being, he would have felt frustration. As it was, it was simply clinical. _The avatar is vulnerable, but only in the most technical sense. Destroying it solves little, the true Scion is still on that world, cut off from all others, and it can simply repair the damage or create another one._

Still, damage was damage, and the goal was not to destroy Scion here, but to buy time. Scion unleashed a burst of golden light, the energy passing through Death without effect. It _did_ strike a purple firebreathing demon that had tried to take advantage of the opening, erased from existence by the flash of energy.

Death prepared himself, gathering and shaping the energy of the Shadow Plane. On a material plane, he never could have done this. Here, he could shape it, direct it, attack in such a way that only the protection of Light Magic, vampiric regeneration, or simply being a dark creature themselves could resist it. To anything else, it would be quite lethal. They formed into spears of darkness, and as fireballs, magic bursts, arrows, and javelins launched from the army of demons below, Death directed them into Scion, momentarily solidifying as he did so.

In that instant, Scion lanced out with a powerful blast of golden light, slamming into Death, the tower, the remainder of the castle below, and hundreds more demons.

Death managed to resist the blow, his nature as a cosmic being preventing his erasure. Scion could damage his vessel, but he was not capable of destroying Death himself. The vessel, however, was never meant to handle the energy that sought to unravel it, reduce it to point particles and seething potential energy in its rawest form. Even the Vampire Killer, even the greatest weapons of Light only disrupted the vessel before, never truly _damaged_ it like this.

Turning insubstantial, Death took stock. His vessel was dissolving. It was comprised of the ethereal cords that rightly belonged to half a million humans that Dracul had captured and sacrificed to create it. The golden light had seared at it, damaged it, and now his vessel could not withstand being puppeted by his consciousness. It would dissolve, and there was no salvaging it.

Not without the deliberate murder of another half-million people, in any case.

"Aʟʟ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴ ᴇɴᴅ, I sᴜᴘᴘᴏsᴇ." He muttered ruefully. He focused his attention on the form of Scion, who was blasting lances of golden light in all directions. The demons that had survived the last attack were falling in droves, dying in an instant. While the inevitability of their end was something he dealt with on a basis that was beyond the capability for mortals to comprehend, he still lamented the end of their lives. The wasted potential.

Scythes formed in his ethereal hands. He returned to solidity behind Scion, driving their deadly blades through the Entity's avatar, immediately returning to ethereal as Scion attempted to counterattack. The necrotic energy imbued in Death's scythes were dissolving golden flesh, making Scion appear as if he were a melting wax candle that somehow failed to actually melt. Shining golden flesh fell off into the empty void.

Scion glowed briefly, the scythes buried in his flesh erased from existence. The flow of dissolving flesh stopped.

Death reappeared, scythes at the ready, but at that instant, Scion turned and slammed his fist into Death's jaw with enough strength to reduce a mountain to dust. Death immediately shattered, his vessel falling into the void of the Shadow Plane helplessly. It took long moments to reassemble himself, and the degradation of the vessel was accelerating. Only minutes left, now.

Scion turned, shifting toward the retreating castle. Now it was far enough away that most mundane mortals could never perceive it.

Scion was not most mortals. Golden energy built up in the Entity's hand. As he lifted it to unleash it, Death decided on one last attack. He grasped Scion from behind, the two avatars struggling against each other. Death was the larger, but Scion was the more potent. Without a vessel, Death was capable of so very little. Without an avatar, Scion was still capable of rending worlds. Compared to that, the vessel of Death was only capable of distracting for a brief moment.

Just long enough to convert the remaining ethereal chords that composed his vessel into Shadow Magic. The remaining bindings that rightly belonged to a quarter of a million people were not very potent on their own, but concentrated into one place, at one moment, and backed by a will that spanned infinity?

It was enough.

"Aʟʟ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢs..." Death murmured as his vessel dissolved, fading into nothing, the gift of his corporeal form lost to him.

The resulting release of Shadow Magic, however, ripped into Scion's avatar. It boiled and burned golden flesh, destroying it all the way down to the edge of the fist-sized one-way portal within Scion's chest that was the connection to his true body. The carnage was enough to disrupt the connection Scion had managed to forcibly build into the Shadow Plane, and the Entity pulled the avatar's portal back into an uninhabited reality to rebuild it.

If Death still had a face, he would have smiled.

* * *

Recovery was painful.

It took some time. The energy had to be forcibly dissipated, unraveled with the Entity's wavelength manipulation, else it would keep causing more damage. While the Entity had vast reserves of flesh to draw upon, there was no sense in allowing itself to be slowly whittled away. Worse, adaptation to neutralize it didn't seem to work as expected. Every last scrap of it had to be eliminated in order to fix the detrimental effects it had on the avatar.

The one-way portal at the avatar's core, however, had done its job. It prevented the necrotic energy from spreading itself through the true Entity. The amount would not have been lethal, but it would have been unpleasant and difficult to remove safely. The Entity might have damaged useful capabilities that would have taken time, effort, energy and resources to repair. That would have resulted in several realities' worth of energy-infected humans escaping.

Recreation of the avatar was complete. The Entity returned it to the false-universe, intent on finishing the mission...only, the location of the portal it had wrought showed no sign of the construct. Instead, below was a simple city, lain out in row upon row of houses, simple streets. It was a repeating pattern, each one identical, and by the Entity's notice, it would have been capable of housing well over a million humans. But it was empty, not a single lifeform there. Only an abundance of heavy metals and light elements, refined to-

The avatar was reduced to the one-way portal once more. This time not from the strange energy it barely understood, but rather, several thousand high-yield nuclear weapons going off directly in its face. More than enough to vaporize the city below utterly, as there was nothing supporting the earth beneath those now-destroyed houses.

Rebuilding the avatar took less effort this time. Nuclear devices were not new. They were, however, annoying. When the aftermath had faded, the radiation clinging to the Entity's flesh neutralized, there was nothing left. Nothing to seek out, no sign of the construct to finish the task. Only vapor and new radioactive elements cluttering this strange false-universe.

The Entity was severely annoyed as it returned the avatar to the primary target reality. Over the ocean, where it had first appeared here. Preparing to unleash its might to draw out the users of this strange energy. Ironically, the location was not that far from where the energy-construct had hovered a mere three hours before.

Only to find itself surrounded by literally thousands of shard-hosts, artificial constructs, and several non-hosts burning with that strange energy. _All_ enhanced by that power, burning with red and blue light, platforms of earth supporting those that could not fly.

At the head was the red one, the one that slew the water-weapon. Even as the Entity lifted a hand, preparing to unleash its wavelength manipulation, flame erupted from her hands and struck the Entity.

And so did a thousand other effects at once.


	98. Eclipse 9-2

A/N: How did it go?

Oh, yeah.

Let's get ready to rumble!

* * *

 _Two hours, thirty minutes ago_

It took all my effort to not rip open a portal to the Shadow Plane then and there. Well, I was still suffering a lot of pain, so that slowed me down a bit. It was fading, but that wasn't much comfort.

"Where's Scion heading?" Alexandria demanded.

Pandora's head shifted. "I'm having difficulty tracking him. He doesn't show up on most media. I can tell there's a tsunami heading for shore, looks like it's going to be around thirty feet tall by the nearest islands. Only visual tracking works, but he's a bright target at least. It would be easier if we didn't have to route everything through portals, it's adding lag to the response time. Not much, but enough that it may make a big difference."

Dragon marched up to Pandora. "I'll open a Light Bridge here, relay through that. Radio's a form of light, it will work. We need to coordinate as much as possible in order to get him. We need to buy time."

Pandora nodded. "We'll take a quick detour over to my world. It's going to be a lot easier if you can open enough portals for me to get everything through. And if you open a lot of portals so we can load up the Exodus. It can handle a million people, and we've got a list of people who would be ideal. For safety's sake, we're going to try and filter out as many people who have the potential to Trigger. No active or inactive parahumans aboard."

Janus and Hyperion nodded together. Janus spoke first. "We will work with your 'Clairvoyant' and 'Doormaker.' We'll attempt to open the way to the Abomination's true self. I will need time, though."

I fought my way to my feet. "We need to rally everything we've got. Try and stop him. He's not going to just be satisfied with blowing up the castle." I grit my teeth. "And I can't take him alone."

* * *

 _Two hours ago_

I didn't like this job. It was a pain, it was repetitive and annoying, but there wasn't any help for that. I was too busy opening portals into the Shadow Plane. "How much time?"

"Twenty minutes, real time. Seven hours our own." Chronos responded.

Pandora's voice echoed over my earpiece. "According to the succubus messenger from the castle, Scion can track powers. This should be a nice little surprise for him if your servants can delay him, or stop him from destroying the castle."

Pandora, or rather, Pandora's many, _many, many_ suits, were moving nuclear devices into each portal I made. At one portal a minute, and with Chronos at my side, speeding up our passage through time, it made things easier to work with. I looked at the 'main' suit at my side, though that wasn't exactly true. Not when there was a million of them below me.

"How long have you been working on this?" I muttered as I opened another portal to the shelter I built in the Shadow Plane.

Pandora shrugged, her massive gray suit shuffling with the motion. "Years actually, on various projects. Building exponentially since you killed the Simurgh. Though I've got much better control and coordination after I was unleashed entirely six weeks ago. I spent a lot of that time building factories, building suits, getting uranium, refinement facilities. I like people, but you can get things done a lot faster if you don't have to worry about poisoning them. I don't like that I've ended up basically breaking the biosphere that _was_ here, but at least that was plantlife and insects. Apparently chordates died here, or they never evolved. Haven't found any fossils of them, anyway."

I nodded. "Bit of luck. Every minute counts." I looked at Chronos. "Even with your help, much as I appreciate it."

He chuckled. "We have much to do. I _am_ looking forward to going back to recording history, however. I dislike making it, but there will be little point if history comes to an end."

* * *

 _One hour, thirty minutes ago_

" _This is Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown of the PRT. I am declaring an S-Class emergency. Scion has gone insane. He has attacked Velnar, nearly destroying the castle of the Scarlet Dragon. The attack has set off a tsunami that we are expecting to hit the shores of North America within the next twenty minutes. It is expected the tsunami will be approximately thirty feet high when it hits. As of this moment, we are attempting to evacuate the coastal regions and rally a counterattack. Thinkers have confirmed that Scion's attack is just beginning. Scion is responsible for the Endbringers. He unleashed them on us to gather information, then drove them off when he learned what he wanted from us. When we beat them, he took offense, and he won't stop with the Scarlet Dragon's holdings. The best case scenario is he will create and unleash new Endbringers to send against us. The worst case is he will act himself. If you are hearing this broadcast, we are requesting aid. Everybody willing to contribute to the fight. Every hero, every villain. This is for our species. He dies or we do."_

The broadcast was being sent across the world. Translated into hundreds of languages, repeated again and again. I was listening with one ear as I built up my strength over the ocean, where Castlevania _used_ to be just a short time ago. It would be most useful if Scion arrived back here when he was finished. He _seemed_ to have a habit of coming and going from near here, too. Even if he didn't, Hyperion told me he would make things work if he could.

The stormclouds formed. I needed time to build up a storm, I never could just build a hurricane up with this much time. Maybe if I had a _week,_ but in a few hours? A small storm would have to do. Thankfully the ocean was warm, easing my task. The anvil-shaped stormcloud built quickly, growing outward. Every passing second made it stronger.

Hopefully I would have enough time.

* * *

 _Half an hour ago_

The sky was dark, not simply because it was night, but because the storm I built blocked out any possible starlight. The area above otherwise barren ocean was lit up by _thousands_ of Dragon suits, piloted by Pandora. Enough to create an artificial day. It was actually pretty disquieting.

From various Doormaker portals came a lot more people. Some were flying under their own power. Others were on jetpacks or power armor. Gaia floated through on a small platform of earth underneath her feet, though the moment she crossed over, she gestured and it began to spread and grow outwards.

A pair floated near me, the two being carried by other glowing figures. Transparent figures, lacking more than the simplest features. Three ghosts carrying two people...

Suddenly, I felt a lot better about being dead. I wasn't sure if I could be killed again, but at least it should be a bit more difficult.

Glastig Uaine, looking deceptively young as she and her companion approached me. The other was a large man, wearing both jeans and a jean jacket, a gray shirt underneath it.

Glastig tilted her head as she looked me over. "Lady of Shadow. Your fae is silent. Passed from you and moved upon another. Yet you possess power, still. The trace upon thee is strange, dark. As if a blade of darkness cut aside the joining."

I kept my concentration upon the building storm, even as I responded. "I'm complicated."

Glastig Uaine attempted to reach out and touch me, but I floated backward, narrowing my eyes.

"Don't try it." I spat.

She simply smiled. "You have no fae. My touch would not threaten you. But there is a trace upon you of your fae. A tiny fragment of it, a shadow left behind. I was curious whether I might touch upon that fae. I have never seen it before."

I shook my head. "No, not now. Not ever. Especially not when we need to prepare against Scion."

Glastig Uaine looked amused. "Oberon will not fall so easily here. The King of the Fae will seek our end. He will fight us as he has nothing left. If he were not broken, we would stand no chance." She tilted her head. "But if he were not broken, the Cycle would not end here and now. Perhaps this is the time it changes. Perhaps the King may be deposed."

I focused my gaze on her face, gauging her words. "But you think we have a chance."

She shrugged. "A small one, perhaps. Oberon is not so easily bested as one might dream. But all things can die. Even Kings." There was mirth on those oddly-old eyes. "Even gods of darkness."

The large man coughed. "We don't have all day. I have a lot of people to see."

The Faerie Queen gave him a glare. "I speak with the Lady of Darkness, Empowerer."

"First, it's Galvanate. Second, I need to boost a lot of people today." He looked at me. "I can give you invulnerability. Not sure how it'll hold up against Scion, but it might help."

I nodded. "I'm undead. Any idea if that should effect things?"

He shrugged. "No clue. Power works on Case 53s, though."

"Alright, do it." I said.

He touched my hand, and it felt like an electric shock ran through me. Galvanate smacked my hand, seeming pleased at the resistance. Then the pair moved off, joining the group of gathering forces. I had been expecting to feel somewhat different... though _how,_ I don't know. I guess I just had to prepare.

I turned my mind back to the gathering storm.

* * *

 _Ten minutes ago_

I would have been sweating if I were still capable of it. Concentrating on building the storm so quickly was not easy. The task itself wasn't that hard, but apparently even I had trouble magicking up a ton of energy and storing it in a stormcloud.

Alexandria, Legend, and Apostle all appeared above the main platform Gaia was holding above the ocean. What surprised me was that Alexandria apparently went through a costume redesign, her suit was blue and gold, rather than the all-black she was known for. Others floated around us, I spotted Scylla floating next to about fifty _huge_ crows, or ravens. I wasn't sure what label would apply when the damn things were the size of goddamn buses. I'd be questioning where the hell we got those, but I really had more important things to worry about.

Every few seconds, more parahumans appeared. More Dragon suits appeared, piloted by Pandora. Dragon herself appeared in a flash of rainbow light. Chronos appeared in the air, surrounded by his Timekeepers. Lokhan appeared next to a thirty-foot long dark snake, the damn thing as large as an Endbringer. Pan and Agreus appeared together, the shorter satyr holding a long silver blade I had trouble looking at, while Agreus had a pair of sickles in his hands.

Forcefields sprang up. The air distorted as Chronos sped us through the passage of time. I wasn't sure how much difference it would make... but it would have to be enough.

* * *

 _Now_

Scion popped into existence, right in the middle of the battlefield we set up. For once, his predictability worked in our favor. Even as the golden glow began to build on him, his facial expression hard and determined, I unleashed a stream of hellfire on him, though my attack was lost in the glare of lasers, gravitational warping, white fire, beams of light.

Scion burst his way from the fray, his motion still frighteningly quick despite how much Chronos was improving our speed. Golden light built within his hands, and I dropped as fast as I could. The beam of golden light speared through the area I had just been in. Then Scion exploded as a railgun shot from a Pandora suit slammed into him, golden flesh raining down on the ocean below.

I would have missed it if not for the time-warp. A white sphere, about the size of a fist, where Scion had been. Within half a second, Scion's body was rebuilt around it. He clapped his hands together, a sphere of golden light bursting outward, catching some of the unfortunate fighters in it. They were erased, their substance destroyed, as if they never had been at all.

" _Lyon deceased, Harper deceased, Alayan deceased, Runt deceased..."_

I mentally shoved aside the readout. The dark snake of Moord Nag, now glowing with blood-red energy, slammed through the golden sphere without slowing down. It had Scion in its jaws as it splashed down to the ocean below. The waves halted as Scion did _something,_ and he stood on the water's surface as if it were a pane of solid glass. The huge snake burst from the water, lunging for Scion once more, but he caught the beast by the fangs and held it back. Jaws the size of a bus snapped open and shut, trying to drive forward, gouging into Scion's arms, but he didn't seem to care.

As golden light built up in those arms, I thrust my hand skyward and called down the storm. A bolt of lightning, built with everything the storm had in it, powerful enough to light up Brockton Bay for at least a year. Probably a lot less than the bolt I brought down on Leviathan, but I just didn't have the time to get a storm that strong.

Scion's flesh vanished underneath that bolt. The snake clamped its jaws around the sphere, chomping, crunching, eagerly ripping. Golden flesh poured from that maw in rivers, shining in the dark waters below.

Then the entire snake shined gold. An instant later, it exploded, and Scion was turning to look skyward. A blast of golden light sprayed upwards, slamming into me.

Despite Galvanate's invulnerability enhancing me, I felt it searing my flesh, peeling my skin from my bones. If I _hadn't_ been given it, I knew it would have torn me apart instantly. As it was, the world winked out as my eyes were destroyed _again._

I hated being blind. And oh, there's my old friend gravity again. I was tempted to shift into mist to try and not splashdown, but _that_ would probably get me killed while Scion's light was tearing through me.

Abruptly the light cut off, but I didn't really notice as I slammed into the ocean. By the way, salt water on open burns? It _really_ hurts. Still, my wounds were regenerating, and once my eyesight returned, I burst up from the water to find Scion glaring out at everyone. Monochrome gray.

It...really couldn't be that simple, could it?

A burst of gray light, Glastig Uaine screaming up in the sky as one of her ghosts shattered. Scion floated upward, glowing golden as he extended a hand. A beam of light lanced outward, slicing through capes and Dragon suits without resistance. Body parts fell from the sky, a rain of blood accompanying the carnage.

No, not that simple. It's _never_ that simple.

So I came up behind Scion and stabbed him in the back with the Void Sword.

Whoa.

 _Whoa._

So much _life_ poured into me that it was horrifically _painful._ It felt like I was bathing in boiling hot acid. My wounds sealed themselves instantly, but I just _could not stand_ the sheer amount that was flowing through the Void Sword.

It was almost a relief when Scion turned and backhanded me. The _next_ thing I knew I was tumbling helplessly, my surroundings going by in such a blur that I wasn't able to actually comprehend much of anything. Though _that_ might _also_ because of the corona of superheated plasma around me. Bit hard to see through that. Thank you again, Galvanate, or I'd be dead. More dead. No longer undead.

Oh good, the plasma's gone. And...shit. That's the Earth below me, isn't it? Yep, that's the Earth, and I'm hurtling away from it. _And_ , I'm dizzy from whirling around over and over. He punched me into orbit. He actually punched me _out_ of orbit. If I wasn't able to fly, I'd be careening off into space forever from that.

And that's the sun. Ow. Letting a silent growl out into the void, I shifted into my dragon shape, reversed my direction. It took long minutes before I managed to plunge back down into the atmosphere. I didn't have any trouble finding where the battle was still taking place. I just had to find the shining bursts of golden light. Which was rather distressingly large. And moving. The fight had shifted from over the Atlantic to over continental Europe. Where exactly I don't know because _I'm a little too fucking busy._

Great swathes of land were on fire, others were torn down to bedrock. Worse, as I got closer to the battle, I could see where large sections of ground were torn away, pools of lava bubbling up. Then I crested over a hill and found _miles_ of land that looked like it came straight out of Hell. Lava and ash were spilling out of the ground, and a lot of capes were forced to keep back, the environment itself impossible to fight in.

I dove into the ash cloud, the golden blasts spurring me onwards. We _had_ to slow him down. There was just no other option. I wasn't going to complain if we managed to actually kill Scion here, but we had to give Janus and Hyperion the _time_ we needed to reach the real Abomination.

And ash _really_ sucked to fly through. I couldn't see a damn thing. So I flew upwards, out of the ash cloud, pulled on the Void, and breathed _down_ , as much as I could. Superchilled air clashed with boiling volcanic heat, and the result formed a howling windstorm, whipping around me. But I was unmoved. I would _not_ be moved.

Superheated ash was suddenly robbed of its heat, and the center of the cloud collapsed in on itself. That let me catch a view of the battle raging in the middle of it.

Scion was busy grappling with Lorkhan, the large Lord of War holding a seven foot long blade made of flame. He was busily trying to push its length down into Scion's neck with both hands, every muscle straining and trembling. Scion, on the other hand, held off the seven foot tall god with one hand on the burning sword, seemingly effortlessly. He lifted the other hand, a sphere of golden light appearing.

I enveloped Scion with a concentrated Hellfire, tightening the focus of my power until it was concentrated into a thin beam. Scion was lost in the glare.

His attack, however, was not. It blasted outward, enveloping Lorkhan in a blinding white glare. When it faded, both were standing in lava, but Lorkhan's armor had been blasted away. His weapon was gone. Even much of his _skin_ was gone, showing bare muscle and blood flowing from the hideous wounds.

Though that didn't _stop_ Lorkhan. Even injured as he was, he slammed his large fists against Scion, again and again, the blows rippling the air and causing shockwaves that helped blast away some of the remaining drifting ash. The burned ground beneath the pair cracked and shattered with every hit. It would have been encouraging, if not for one simple thing.

Scion was catching every blow. He almost seemed _bored._ Before I could move, Scion struck out with a fist of his own, catching Lorkhan in the jaw. Lorkhan just...exploded, covering Scion with gore.

Then he was struck by a silver spear that arced its way through the ashcloud, passing through Scion's flesh without resistance. I pulled on the power of the storm, launching a stream of electricity at Scion, guided by my will. Dragon flashed into existence near me, also in her dragon form. She lifted her arms, then pushed downward with her own white fire. Andraste floated above us, forming and launching spears of shining silver light down at the single golden form below.

The flash of golden light below was my only warning. I teleported, my range extended in my dragon form, which was the _only_ reason the golden light seared off my left wing instead of ripping into my whole body. Worse, the light clung to me, burning into my flesh, and the _only_ thing I could do is try and get some distance. I felt myself shifting out of my dragon shape involuntarily, tumbling helplessly as I slammed into the ground, the flowing ash around me making it impossible to see.

And I was still burning. The fucker had somehow _tuned_ his light to carry the same whatever it was that made sunlight irritating to me and amplified it. It was still eating at my flesh, and I could feel it dissolving what little remained of my left wing, my left arm, and running upward. It just might end up consuming my whole body.

I manifested the Void Sword. Cut off my left arm just below the shoulder. Screamed, the sound lost in the ash. Then repeated the procedure for my left wing, making my eyes water. Thankfully the blade itself cut without much pain, but with the ash and dirt pressing into the open wounds, _that_ made it hurt.

And worse, I wasn't healing. I just didn't have enough blood, or life energy, to heal the wounds. I couldn't get close. He'd adapted to me. I couldn't hurt him enough, while he could hurt me a thousand times over. Worse, Scion seemed _more_ powerful than the Abomination Dracul fought.

Either that, or Scion just wasn't playing around so much. Regardless, I'd fucked up. Let myself think Scion might have been _just_ a bit stronger than the Endbringers. Maybe about ten times stronger.

No, it was much worse than that. I'd _badly_ underestimated him. And now people were dying because of it. I'd gotten arrogant, careless, and now this was the price.

There was a distant rumble, and another wave of heat. Screams echoed faintly. I could barely see a hint of bright blue lights from above clashing with Scion's golden light from below.

I needed a way to even things. Scion was strong enough that he didn't need finesse, skill. He just took the opposition and retaliated. We weren't a threat to him. Not like this. I needed some way to get within the range of a decent fight. Even if I couldn't _match_ him with power alone, I might be able to use skill to make up the difference. Ironically, that was the same way the Belmonts had managed to defeat Dracul four times in their history. They weren't anywhere near as strong as their ancestor, but they'd defeated him by being strong _enough_ to fight back, to harm him, and skilled enough to survive the onslaught. Even then, Dracul had won his battles as often as he lost.

Grimly, in a _lot_ of pain, I opened a Shadow Portal. I had an idea. I just hoped it would be enough.


	99. Interlude: Apocalypse

A/N: Here we go.

* * *

The ash cloud was growing. A hundred mile wide strip of land was torn away, erased, fire and heat boiling up from the Earth below. Few could fight within that cloud, the hot ash, toxic gas, and sheer heat being far too dangerous for all but the most heavily armored or invulnerable capes. No matter what happened after this, France was going to be screwed. Whether there would be anything left to recover...

No. No point in dwelling on it, now. They had an apocalypse to stop. Only the invulnerable capes could even get near Scion, and of those, those that didn't need to breathe. The holograms being projected from some of Pandora's suits were helpful, too. They appeared like _more_ suits, distracting Scion, taking hits that he otherwise would have used against actual flesh and blood. They definitely helped in cutting down the casualties.

Dragon herself floated above the battlefield, blasting lightning, white fire, and pure light down on the comparatively small form of Scion. Thousands more Dragon suits, controlled by both Dragon and Pandora, dove into the rising ash cloud, attacking Scion and keeping him distracted. With a combination of forcefields and self-repair systems, Scion had to ensure he destroyed each one, and they were able to withstand at least one blast of golden light before becoming vulnerable.

That was fine by David. It gave him just enough time to get himself ready. Ten seconds between power swaps. Beyond that, though, was a deep well. Energy that belonged to Ariel, Lotan, Ifrit, Agreus, Pan, Scylla, Andraste, Lorkhan, Hyperion and Janus flowed through him. They had been connected to powers, but with them freed, those powers now rested inert. But they were _full_ of energy, ready to be used. That energy flowed readily, easily, to the powers he wanted, prepared for. Powers that had been drained for two decades, brought to the fore once again.

There was the additional well, too. The powers that were connected to the other ten still bound. Their energy didn't flow so easily, so readily, but it was more to use, more to wield. The main problem was that it was flowing to _all_ of his powers, and he couldn't force it to prioritize. Had they more time, time enough to free all the gods, David would have been more powerful than even his height. If only for a short time.

As it was, he simply had to make do.

 _Enhanced perception._ He could see all wavelengths of light, comprehend them, and see in all directions without disorientation. Even through the ash cloud, he had no difficulty seeing Scion fighting wave after wave of Dragon suits, the machines blasting munitions, lasers, gamma rays, and when Scion ceased being affected by a given weapon, the suit would close to melee and do as much damage as possible.

 _Invulnerability._ An inviolate field covered him, invulnerable and immutable. An absolute object, he was where he wished to be. Gravity would not bind him, vacuum was no threat to him, and nothing short of a nuclear weapon could faze him. It would take much, much more to actually _harm_ him. Granted, Scion had far greater output than _that_ , but that combined with the third power would help protect him.

The third. A power he took great pains at finding, buried beneath the thousands of others. A power that had been drained, but not by Eidolon's long career. A power that had once belonged to another. A power he spent weeks at charging to its fullest, in preparation for this moment. _Wavelength manipulation._

He just knew what Clark would say. Maybe it was simply his memories, maybe there was something of Clark left on the power that used to be his. It didn't matter. The thought was clear enough.

 _Kick his ass, old buddy._

Scion burst his way from the ash cloud, having shaken off the nearest hundred Dragon suits. He flew toward the actual Dragon at hypersonic speeds, a halo of golden energy surrounding the Abomination's avatar. Dragon glowed blue, shields of light popping into existence between her and Scion. He rammed into the first, his body liquefying against it from the sheer speed, but the white sphere at the center survived. It crashed through the shield, the golden body having reformed itself an instant later. He struck the next one an instant later, this time smashing through it without resistance, his body withstanding the immense impact.

His fingers nearly reached Dragon, when the Light Goddess suddenly vanished in a flash of rainbow light. She reappeared five miles away, a beam of white flame enveloping Scion an instant later. Scion weathered the hit without flinching.

Scion turned, trying to track the rapidly teleporting goddess, Dragon's ability to think at immense speeds allowing her to keep one step ahead of the rampaging Abomination. Scion built up golden energy, unleashing a wave toward Dragon that tore into the land, expanding in a sphere of destruction that rightfully belonged to a nuclear blast.

David lifted his hand and unleashed his own wavelength manipulation, canceling Scion's own. The sphere hadn't traveled more than a hundred feet before it faded.

Scion looked up at David, while he returned the stare. Light Magic infused him, making David blaze blue as he readied himself. Scion launched himself at David at blinding speeds, but David twisted himself aside. He unleashed a blast of silver light, tuned specifically to attempt to break the white sphere at Scion's heart. That it would also erase the substance of Scion's avatar was only a bonus.

The white sphere was blasted away. Annoyingly, it didn't seem affected. So it wasn't like an Endbringer core, it was something else. Scion reformed himself slowly, the golden flesh forming itself around the sphere, adapting as David kept a beam of silver light upon him, erasing that flesh even as it formed. Scion shifted and adapted, and David retuned his wavelength manipulation, dissolving it down again and again.

The sphere vanished. David readied himself, building energy in the wavelength manipulation power.

Scion reappeared at David's back, a fist moving at supersonic speeds plunging toward him. David turned and caught the fist in his hand, channeling silver light into the avatar and reducing it to neutrinos. The ghostly waves of energy raced away, passing through matter without interacting with much of anything. Stubbornly, the sphere of Scion's heart remained intact, despite how much energy David drove at it. It wasn't _substance_ , and so he couldn't unmake it.

The sphere vanished again, stepping between dimensions as easily as David might step between rooms. Long experience with the trickiness of fighting the Simurgh came in handy, as Scion attempted the same trick, appearing from behind with a fist already in motion. David blasted Scion with silver light, reducing him to the sphere again.

This time, the sphere whirled by David, taking a moment before it reassembled the golden avatar around itself. Scion dove forward, the golden form of his body just barely missing David as he slipped to the side. Gold and silver light clashed against each other, gold tuned to attack, unbind molecules from each other, and the silver tuned to cancel out the golden blasts that would otherwise punch deep into the Earth's surface, causing even more destruction.

It wouldn't last long, David knew. The power was draining, like every other power he ever had. But if it bought enough time...

Scion was suddenly right in front of him, fingers reaching to gouge out David's eyes. David grabbed, then erased those grasping hands, a follow-up fist to Scion's face sending the rampaging Abomination reeling back. Scion blazed forward, but stopped, just out of melee range, a look of enraged determination in those golden eyes.

" _You needed worthy opponents."_ Scion spoke, his voice just above a whisper. In anticipation of the moment of expected shock, the Abomination was already lunging forward as he finished speaking.

In response, David blasted him with silver light, this one tuned to smash Scion away from him. The Abomination whirled for a moment, steadying himself in the air as he looked at David, a look of shock and dismay on his face.

"And I have him." David spoke as he shifted powers, dismissing the perception ability for the moment. He lunged out with another blast of silver light, freezing Scion's flesh, forcing him to hold still for a few precious seconds.

That's when Alexandria, covered in plasma from her passage through the atmosphere, emerged from Chronos' Time Gate and struck Scion at Mach 37.

* * *

"Almost have it, we can see it."

"There's a wall, we can't open it that way."

"Magic is there, already. We need merely tune ourselves in synch with it."

"Indeed, indeed, it must be taking in energy, as well. Find the path, I shall make the door."

Emily ignored most of the chatter. It had gone on like that for _two hours now._ Instead, she concentrated on her hand, where fire swirled and twisted at her will. Her power wasn't of much use for opening a portal, but with her lack of experience with them, she would only get in the way during the battle with Scion. Much as she hated it, she knew she wasn't going to be much good there. She would only be a liability on the battlefield, and so she was stuck with the two gods that didn't go.

 _Discipline._

So instead, she sat back and watched as Janus, Hyperion, Clairvoyant and Doormaker strained to open a portal to Scion's actual body. It was difficult to understand that the golden man, world renowned hero, selfless saviour, was actually an alien monstrosity large enough to cover a world. At least, it _was_ , until he had cut a swathe of destruction right in the middle of Europe. France was merely ground zero, but the environmental damage was going to spread out _much_ further. Ash was falling on Spain already, carried by the wind.

 _Discipline._

The four were on the other side of the white room. All the while Emily practised. Forming the flame into shapes. A gauntlet, a sword, a baton. Simple. What was more difficult was something a bit more complicated. Thankfully, when she was still a groundpounder, she knew the inside and out of every weapon she ever had to use. First, a pistol. Specifically, a 1911 Operator. She'd disassembled and reassembled it a thousand times in training. She could do it with her eyes closed.

 _Discipline._

Forming one out of flame turned out to be very difficult. It didn't want to hold in shape, it _wanted_ to move, ripple, escape, consume. She didn't let it. Emily Piggot was not going to let her power get the better of her. She would master _it,_ and not be controlled by _it._

 _Discipline._

Emily forced it into shape. Despite how the flame tried to act, her will was the stronger. She formed the mechanisms inside, every last pin, screw, and piece of it. The end result, she had a pistol that appeared to be made of lava sitting in her hand. It felt _right,_ somehow. Like something just _clicked_ in place.

She looked up, gun in hand, as the two deities (or rather _three,_ considering she was now one, and _that_ was a headache) shifted on their feet. Finally, Janus let out a cry of triumph. A shimmering portal snapped open, gleaming silver and white, through which was a distorted landscape of...

No. Not land. Spires of mountain-sized crystals and the glistening sheen of wet, living flesh. Eldritch orange energy spiked in places, arcing before coming back down like a prominence on the sun in miniature. She wasn't able to see much more than that, as she was looking through the portal at a forty-five degree angle, but it was _alien._

"My god..." Emily whispered.

Hyperion nodded. "That's the Abomination. His true self. We can get through to him, the portal is open. We need to rally-"

A flare of golden light passed through the portal, tearing apart everything in its way. Emily covered her eyes and fell out of her chair. By the time she got back to her feet, the portal had snapped shut. The wall... and at _least_ five miles of facility was gone, carved away in an instant, revealing dead or dying flesh buried beneath or so far off in the distance. So were Clairvoyant and Hyperion, the pair of them erased from existence as cleanly as everything else.

Doormaker, on the other hand, was alive. His thin body fell over, unconscious, with his connection to Clairvoyant broken in the worst possible way.

Janus stood there dumbly, his body shaking. "Hyperion..."

Emily got to her feet, coughing. The gun was still in her hand, though it was sputtering a bit as her concentration wavered. _Discipline, Emily._ Her hair alight in flame, she advanced on the black and white god, her teeth clenched. "Didn't count on other defenses. Can you still open a portal there?"

Janus didn't move, standing stock still.

Emily growled, lifted her gun, and fired off into the now-open space. The sound was satisfyingly loud, and made Janus whirl on her with a look of fear.

"We don't have _time_ for you to self-destruct right now! Can you reopen it!" Emily growled, her fingers tightly gripping the flame-construct in her hand.

Janus shakily nodded his head. "I can. I can feel it, but there's nothing stopping him from blocking us with that power. Another attempt will only destroy us. He realized within an instant." He glanced at the destruction, the ceiling creaking ominously. "We can't stay here. We have to get out of here." Panic was beginning to fill his voice. "We have to run, run, I can't let the chains get me again, wrapping, cutting, ripping, tearing, _feeding_..."

Emily marched up on Janus, towering over the blubbering, hysterical god. "You need to get us to a place called Oxford on Earth Bet."

He looked up at her dumbly.

She grit her teeth. "We might be able to bypass the problem with a bit of distance, but we need to get to Oxford. We'll see how good his attention is."

The ground rumbled and shook. That seemed to be enough to get Janus on his feet, a silver portal snapping open in front of him. He jumped through. It only took a moment before Emily managed to grab the unconscious Doormaker and pull him through.

* * *

Doctor Mother switched camera views. The Pandora suits were her only connection to the battlefield, dimensions away. It wasn't easy to make sense of what was going on, but what _was_ visible was enough. In the middle of a command center, she was stuck watching, helpless, as everything she prepared for the last thirty years came to pass.

Scion, in his frustration, had moved. Over the course of twenty minutes, the Abomination had broken off, leaving the devastated region of central France and into eastern Germany. David was nullifying the golden blasts, preventing Scion from doing much damage to the landscape itself, but it couldn't last very long. Now the group of attackers were trying to stop Scion, moving in lightning-fast blurs on Pandora's cameras before pulling back, avoiding the counterattacks.

Not that it _helped_ much. Lifesigns still winked out, one after another. Slower than they otherwise would have without Chronos' aid, but there was simply no way to save someone who had been turned into a rain of blood by a punch powerful enough to rival a meteor strike.

She jerked her head as Pandora's voice echoed. "The Exodus is fifty percent loaded. I've lost contact with Doormaker, he's no longer opening portals."

Fifty percent. Five hundred thousand people, chosen for genetic variability, from all around Earth Bet. Ten thousand people each from fifty countries. America, China, Canada, India, Russia, Spain, the list went on.

She sucked in a breath as she tried to bring up the camera feed for the room for Clairvoyant and Doormaker, only to scowl as she saw static. Using other sensors, she soon discovered why, as that section of the compound had been destroyed.

Damnation. It was actually on this world's counterpart to Japan, while the part she was in was in East Africa. No wonder she hadn't felt it. Still, that meant evacuation efforts were going to be stalled, at least if they didn't have another portal-maker to make up the difference. All of which were the gods, and _they_ were busy in combat with Scion. All that was left was the natural portals to Earth Bet, Earth Gimel, and Earth Shin, none of which were easy to access from here.

She bit her lip, then sighed. "Permission to launch granted, Pandora. Portals are gone, and we can't replace them."

Pandora's voice echoed over the speakers. "Understood. Powering antigravs. Launching in ten minutes."

Then all of the screens of the battle were filled with static. "Pandora!" Doctor Mother called. "Status!"

Screens flickered, then came back online, though they didn't show the battle with Scion. Only the internal security cameras. Pandora's voice was worried. "All the natural portals snapped shut. I have a connection to my foundry world through one of Dragon's, but that's all I have. We're cut off from the battle, and we can't coordinate from here. The other instances of me are rerouting, but it's going to take time."

"What happened?" Cauldron's leader demanded, quickly trying to shuffle through the data available. She froze as she saw motion on a single screen, turning her attention on it.

The avatar of Scion's counterpart was moving. The knife wound in the throat sealed itself. Even as Doctor Mother watched with horror, the arms on the avatar formed themselves, finishing the job she'd interrupted thirty years ago. The wires and steel support structure holding the body in place dissolved like mist in the morning sun. The facility rumbled as the flesh on which the facility was built began to shift and move. Distant crystal mountains lit up as energy coursed through them.

"Oh god, she's been _waiting._ " Doctor Mother whispered, terror crawling up her spine.

The avatar turned, looked at the camera, and smiled.

* * *

The battle raged over Munich. Stray blasts leveled buildings, erasing centuries worth of history in seconds. The fighters were trying to get Scion to _move_ , trying to drive him toward the Mediterranean, where there wouldn't be so much collateral damage, but they were running out of options. Scion was adapting to powers with every blow, the first few being effective, the second or third being only somewhat effective, and later hits barely injuring him at all.

If it wasn't for the magic enhancing them, they wouldn't be doing any damage at all.

Alexandria slammed her fists into Scion, the Abomination's body shattering beneath the blow. It had been one of the great frustrations of her power, that she had effectively infinite strength, yet only the leverage of two small human hands. She couldn't pick up a ship, or lift a building. She did best against the Endbringers, their dense structure permitting her to move or leverage one of the monsters far more than anything else.

Ironically, against Scion, that weakness turned out to be useful. Her fists rent through golden flesh easily. The only problem was he didn't even seem to care. The damage done to him was repaired in seconds, even the burning fire around her hands seemingly only annoying him. By the time she hit him the seventh time, his just-reforming fist reached out and caught Alexandria's. He squeezed her hand.

Despite the layered invulnerability, her bones creaked under the pressure. Pain. It had been quite a while since she felt pain.

There was a moment of disorientation as she found herself abruptly above Scion, her position having been swapped with Acidbath. Scion was abruptly and completely covered in the horrifically corrosive acid that was the criminal's Changer state, and by Scion's jerking, it was plain to see he didn't like that at _all._

A man with a top hat, standing on a floating platform by Gaia, gave Alexandria a little jaunty wave. With an almost lazy twiddle with his fingers, the sheen of Acidbath disappeared off Scion, replaced by a small Dragon suit, this one five feet tall. It promptly exploded, raining a spray of golden flesh down over the streets below.

Scion finally seemed to have _enough._ He clapped his hands together, a burning bright sphere of golden light erupting around him. It consumed everything near him, suits and people vanishing before it like paper before a flame. Alexandria flew backward as quickly as she could, her flight managing to stay ahead of the devastating sphere of destruction only due to the time acceleration she was under.

A silver barrier sprung up, momentarily halting the advancing wave of destruction, but it bought a mere five seconds. Then the silver light shattered, the golden blaze destroying _everything_ in it. Distantly, she heard David's scream as the power he'd been using to counter Scion's was overwhelmed. When the light faded, Munich was gone, and so was at least half a mile of earth beneath it.

"No," Alexandria whispered.

Some of the fliers attempted to re-engage, only to be repelled with lethal force, blood and worse spilling into the crater below. Legend flung beams of blue lasers at Scion, but the counterattack came swiftly, a beam of golden light the size of an office building spearing towards him. Legend managed to shift into his energy form, moving out of range, but the beam itself slammed through several more capes and disintegrated several of Pandora's suits in an instant. Beams struck out, again and again, and the coordinated defenders quickly had to evade or die, turning from a disciplined army into a scared, uncoordinated mob.

Gaia attempted to drop one of the larger platforms of earth on top of Scion, one the size of a three-story building, but a flash of golden light erased it long before it could even get within a kilometer. The counterattack struck Gaia, her substance erased instantly, and the platforms of earth began to plummet toward the ground. Some of the capes on them were rescued by fliers.

Others rode them all the way to their deaths, far below.

Then a new figure flew toward Scion. Moving in from the south, golden hair flapping loose and carefree in the wind, the skin bone-white and shining, perfect. It approached Scion, who abruptly stopped his rampage, his body language hard to read at this distance. But the _feeling_ coming from him shifted from rage to _disbelief_ and _joy_ , so powerful and strong it actually brought a tear to Alexandria's eye. She swallowed as the two seemed to commune, Scion hugging the other figure tightly. She returned it, leaning into his embrace, her hands resting on his chest.

 _Oh god, we didn't actually_ kill _her. She's just been_ asleep _. We can't win against two of them._

"Door!" She called, but the expected portal failed to materialize.

Nonononono _nonono_...

And then a familiar, shining blue sword erupted into existence in the new figure's hand, spearing through Scion and emerging out his back.


	100. Eclipse 9-3

A/N: Okay, how many brains exploded from the last chapter? I gotta know where to send the cleanup crews.

* * *

Blood. This thing had blood.

This was a problem. You see, while the fallen body of the counterpart had a lot of _flesh_ and _life,_ despite being mostly dead, it didn't have _much_ blood _._ Only the avatar portion of it did, the rest was undifferentiated biomass that the thing had been forming in a bid to better understand us. Still, that biomass connected to the crystalline mountains I could sense and feel, where the powers, or rather, the access points to those powers, were stored. They were only partially here, the rest of their mass held in mobile pocket dimensions. Most of them were inert. Some were outright dead.

The main problem was that I could use blood to control flesh, but I needed more blood. I could convert life into blood, and so I did just that. I converted _mountains_ worth of living flesh, dead flesh, and life energy into more blood, flowing it through this _immense_ body and coopting more. I spread exponentially, taking on more and more control over the nearly-dead body of the fallen Abomination. _Power_ flowed back the other way. Enhancing what I had, improving my already potent abilities, I could do _more_ than ever before. It wouldn't last long, but hopefully it didn't have to.

Still, I had access to a _lot_ of dead flesh. Only some of it was alive, and it seemed lost, helpless. It wasn't difficult to take control of the avatar, but it was a _lot_ harder to extend my control to the rest of it. It was difficult at first, but it became easier as I went. Blood, blood, blood. It was all my blood. I would have oceans of it. Oceans enough to fuel me as I tried to take down the other.

And I could do a _lot_ with it. Most of the powers weren't usable. Dead, drained, weakened. There were parts missing. Important ones, ones that would let me control or pick powers automatically. Or let me know what they even _did._ There were what I thought were labels, but I couldn't comprehend them, beyond a few basics. Reinforcement, attack, enhancement, modeling... It was mostly a haze, only some powers coming up intuitively. Transition between dimensions. Blocking dimensional access. I did just that, setting up a wall of power between this dimension and the others, to help protect myself if Scion countered me. I was riding in a mostly-dead body, but it would buy time. I grimly smiled as I felt doors snap shut, leaving me secure.

But I could do something else with the powers, the fragments, their life. Use them to amplify my own, channel my own powers with a _hell_ of a lot larger effect. Life to blood. Blood to magic. Magic into crystal. Store it all to be used later. I was, essentially, doing the reverse of what the Endbringers had been. Instead of the fragments draining magic from a god and storing the energy for later use, I was taking their power, converting it into magic, and having it flow back into me on demand, using them as batteries instead of them being leeches on my power. Carefully, so I could keep control of it, but holy _hell_ the magnitude of the power available to me was immense. It felt _amazing._ If I was holding a fist-sized rock before, it felt like I was now holding a _mountain._

And to think, this was a mostly- _dead_ body. How would a living one be?

I shook off the thought. No, that was crazy. Crazier than this, already. Only reason this worked was because there was nobody home, the flesh couldn't protect itself against my intrusion. A living Abomination would have sectioned itself off, purged me from it, even if it meant destroying continents worth of flesh to do it. I wasn't sure _how_ I knew that, precisely, but I knew it. It didn't matter. I had to do what I could. I had to stop Scion. Before he took everything I cared about away.

I looked up at the camera in the corner of the vault room and smiled. I tried a gentle, reassuring smile... not sure if I made it work. Oh well. I had to go.

Endless dimensions splayed out before me. It wasn't like the Shadow Portals at all, I could see them everywhere, and stepping into one was as simple as taking a step forward or backward. I could even see Scion's true body, mirroring this world's appearance, but fresh, alive, writhing, strong. I tried to go to it, but there was still a wall in the way, and I knew I hadn't the strength to break through from here, even with all this stolen power.

No matter. I could use the avatar to strike Scion's, using its flesh as a buffer between me and him. I could drain him like this, be a threat to him, keep him occupied. And hopefully, off-balance. Seeing his counterpart returned from the dead, murderously angry with him... yes. I didn't _like_ that kind of tactic, it reminded me too much of being on the receiving end of that kind of thing, but I was out of options.

Besides, I wasn't doing this for my own amusement or to make myself feel better. I was doing this to save the human species. I could deal with the dirty feelings when Scion wasn't about to sterilize the planet.

I set the avatar forward, while the rest of me got busy consuming biomass. I felt heat on...something, as flesh turned into liquid blood. I used it to fuel myself, strengthen myself, feeding on what small dregs of life were left in this alien creature. I already knew there would be consequences, win or lose, but I didn't care anymore.

Finding Scion's avatar wasn't hard. It was like he was shining in my senses. It was easy to see him. It was time to meet up with him.

* * *

The look of shock, betrayal, and incomprehension on his face burned its way into my memory. It wasn't simply because of the look itself. It was because I could _feel_ how much he loved his counterpart. He _truly, deeply, absolutely_ loved her. Sister, lover, companion, soulmate. Taking her flesh and using it as a weapon against Scion was the most devastating blow I could have ever landed.

It made me sick.

It didn't stop me from twisting the Void Sword in his flesh.

He howled, staggering as he tried to fall back away from me. I didn't let him retreat, I brought him to the ground and drove the sword through him again and again. Only the cold rage and calm certainty of Void Magic let me do what must be done. It twisted my heart to feel the depths of his shock, the betrayal, the _incomprehension_ that he was broadcasting, whether that was deliberate or not. I couldn't afford to stop.

All this _power_ enhanced my own, allowing the Void Sword to draw off a small portion of Scion's life. _Any_ blow I landed on him would be telling, at least he wouldn't be able to outright _ignore_ them like before. I might even be able to kill him through the avatar. I could feel it would _take_ a while, but using this flesh? It acted as a buffer, letting me channel and handle so much more than I could on my own. His life turned into my blood, and my blood became my power, which in turn became greater weapons to tear into his life.

He flailed, chunks of frozen golden flesh falling off of him. At lightning speeds, he exploded out from under me and flew into the air at hypersonic speeds, sending me flying back with the sheer force of it. I could feel flesh liquefying from the pressure alone. It took a moment's thought to replace and repair it with more of my blood, healing the avatar in a way similar to my own vampiric healing.

I dismissed the Void Sword, calling on my blood. It spread further through the dead flesh where the rest of me was, furthering my control and building my reserves. I had a small amount of it cover my avatar, covering the flesh with my armor.

Yes, I'm aware I went and stabbed him in the nude, but one, it wasn't _my_ body, and two, he _might_ have noticed something was up earlier if I went up to him wearing my armor. Now I had it ready, I could use my blood to replace lost tissue, and armor, for when he fought back. I wondered if he was doing something similar, replacing flesh from some storage.

Questions for later. He had to die now.

I blasted my way off the ground, using every bit of energy I had to fly as fast as I could. Despite how fast and strong Scion was, he took no effort to evade me. He was still reeling in shock, judging from the emotions he was broadcasting. He didn't even try to hide himself.

So it came as a surprise to him when I tackled him from behind, steering his controlled flight away from Europe into a crash-landing in a mountain range in... I don't know. India, probably. We slammed through one mountain together, his weak struggles still more than enough to make rock and earth crumble around us like they were made of cobwebs. My much more enthusiastic punches against his face set off avalanches around us, the shockwaves powerful enough to light my fists in plasma. The addition of my Hellfire just made the blows more potent.

Finally, he kicked me off him, the sheer power of the blow enough to disorient. Even so, I righted myself in the air, clenching my hands.

Scion looked up at me, sheer incomprehension in his emotions. He didn't understand yet. I had to make sure he never had the chance to understand.

I channeled everything I could stand into my burning claws, the power melting rock into lava around us as I slammed into Scion. Hellfire consumed golden flesh, and he flinched back as I felt it searing him. He caught my fists in his hands, using his superior strength to keep me still, his own hands burning as he held mine.

 **[Reason?]** Resonated in my head. A demand for information/a cry for understanding/ _what did I do wrong?_

I didn't respond, instead, I called upon my blood, covered him completely in it. I shifted the interior into razors to slice him apart. His tough flesh was ripped into pieces, filling itself from underneath by that sphere at his heart. Still, I ripped into him faster than even his absurd regeneration, burning off a mountain's worth of blood to manage it, scouring him all the way down to the white sphere at his heart.

Not a sphere. A portal. Unlike my Shadow Portals, it was a hole in three dimensions, a one-way event horizon preventing him from being hurt by anything trying to enter the wrong way. A near-perfect defense. He perceived things at a remove, though kept his perceptions on his avatar for ease of use. Scion the hero, golden man, and now destroyer, was just a meat puppet. All of its power was due to thousands of powers enhancing it in various ways, the connections to it small...but there _was_ a connection to all of them, and my magic, amplified as it was, was _searing_ those connections one after another, causing him great pain.

He forced through enough mass to recreate his avatar, forcing my cocoon of blood to explode around him. He threw a punch at me, though it was slow, listless, at least by his lightning-fast, mountain-cracking standards. His heart wasn't in it. He didn't _want_ to hurt me. I caught the blow, pushed him off-balance, then forced my fist into his chest. My blood ripped through him from the inside out, making him jerk and shudder, an inhuman scream echoing out from him.

His arms gripped mine, and together we were moving again, even as I kept ripping into him. The ocean passed beneath us, the sun rose above us as I ripped, twisted and tore into his golden flesh. Together, we slammed into a jungle, leaving a scarred trench behind as he tried to blast me off him with his golden light.

It seared into my substance, but it was quickly replaced, the oceans of blood preventing that light from ending me as easily as everything else. He could only destroy a tiny fraction of me in a given second.

Still, it hurt like hell. Like staring directly into the Sun. My blood writhed beneath the alien flesh. I realized what he was trying to do. He was trying to force me out of his counterpart, but 'gently,' probably hoping there was something left to save. I let him know my displeasure with that idea by slashing him with my whip, carving chunks of golden flesh out of him with each strike. He healed up near-instantaneously, but I could feel his desperation, his sorrow, his _loss._

He charged forward with a roar, moving at supersonic speeds. I flowed out of the way, managing to keep up not through being faster, but because he was _predictable._ I slammed into his back, gripping his flesh, ripping into him with my blood, as we went tumbling off together once again. We splashed underwater, trading blows, gold and white flesh being ripped from both me and him. Together, we slammed into the base of a continental shelf. He threw a punch, the water boiling from the passage, and when I caught it, the force of it formed a void around us that spread for miles.

Wet, dry, wet, dry. It didn't matter. He fought poorly, compared to before, but still our traded blows turned our surroundings on the abyssal plain into something that rightly belonged on a lava-flowing hellworld. Crust cracked beneath us, the continental plates shifted as his punches slammed into me, while mine struck him with far more rage and enthusiasm.

Water enclosed over us as he momentarily paused. I grabbed Scion, pulling him upward, trying to pull the both of us out of the atmosphere. Water, then air, passed quickly, and in the void of space, the both of us tumbled together. Hardly helpless, his golden beams seared my flesh, and my Hellfire seared his. His golden fist collided against my crimson-covered one, nuclear reactions sparked from the force of our collisions. Nuclear fire blossomed around us, and neither of us cared.

His hand gripped my throat, and he pulled us both back down to Earth, fire surrounding us from the heat of our re-entry. We burned, we shattered each other's bodies, we struggled, tore into each other like a pair of crazed animals, instead of a pair of unbreakable gods trying to break each other in a far more fragile world.

We slammed into the ground, dust and dirt spreading out from the impact, forming a crater seventy feet deep and a mile wide. Dust and heated ash filled the air, an inferno raging around us as we continued to struggle. Molten rock surrounded us as his fist crashed into me, my momentary distraction taking me off-guard and sending me flying into the edge of the crater. As I fought to extract myself from the wall, he blasted me with his golden light, searing away my flesh, draining my reserves of blood, straining the life energy I was relying on.

I called on the Void Sword, using my empty, cold rage to absorb as much of the blasting energy as I could. The rock solidified underneath me as the crater suddenly plunged to near-absolute zero, and I stepped forward, regenerating my way through the beam as it tried to boil me out of the stolen flesh. I could even feel the golden light slamming against the barrier I was holding up around the world-sized body I'd stolen.

Trying to destroy _just_ my blood by unraveling it with that golden light of his. It was tearing into my barrier, so I shored it up with life energy channeled from the fragments, using the reserves of blood to keep myself secure. I _also_ let my displeasure with the tactic be known by repeatedly stabbing him with the Void Sword, charging up my reserves while draining his own.

Stab. Stab. Stab. Then Scion hit me with an uppercut, allowing me to get reacquainted with my old friend, the upper atmosphere.

This was getting _really_ annoying.

He collided with me a second later, and in orbit, we flailed together, trading blows powerful enough to rend mountains down into fine powder. For a moment, he broke off, and he broadcasted something at me.

 **[Cease.]** _Stop fighting me, fight the infection, come back to me, love/tenderness/care/pleading/desperation._

The sheer _depth_ of those emotions made me stop. It was hard to move, even with all the motivation of my magic and the knowledge of what he'd done, what he'd continue to do. Worse, I could feel my own feelings responding. Just an echo of the beast I'd possessed, a small shade of the Abomination that fell and was slain by knife-stroke and flesh-harvesting.

But regardless, she really did love him too. The other half of his life, his soul. Without her, he was incomplete. Without him, she had no protector, no lover, no friend, no peer. No purpose.

They _needed_ each other, and without the other they were crippled, lost. What I felt was the echo of what _she_ left on her body, a remnant, but despite that, it was deep. Deep enough that for one brief moment, I pitied Scion. Pitied his mate, pitied the whole species. However simple they were, they were not incomprehensible. Just large. But I could still deal with echoes. I had been since I woke up in my grave.

Then he turned his head as something caught his attention. A blocky ship the size of Manhattan, armored, powered by immense engines and lifting its way off the ground using gravitational warping to reduce its own mass. Half a million people aboard, I could see through the hull, 'hear' their heartbeats. Slow, pulsing, in hibernation, but healthy, strong. It wasn't even _in_ this dimension, either, but we could both see it as it left the atmosphere of its Earth, angling itself to propel into the depths of space.

Scion slipped out of Earth Bet's dimension and into that one before I realized the danger. I followed, but was an instant too late. Even as I tried to get in the way, to stop him, to distract him, he acted.

A pencil-thin beam of light extended from his finger, easily slicing through the ship without the slightest hint of resistance. Heartbeats spiked, alarms were raised, power to the mighty engines cut out. The containment for the fusion reactor at the ship's aft was breached, and it promptly went up in a fireball. The armoring and sectioned design of the ship permitted the front to survive even that...but now, caught by gravity, it plummeted back downward, catching fire in the atmosphere as it did so. There was nothing left to save.

Scion looked at me, and the worst part of it was that he seemed _proud._ Seeking my/ _her_ _approval._ **[Cycle. Salvage.]** _Can fix things/gather the data/refine further/spread/grow/evolve/reproduce/recover if you beat the parasite and come back to me._

My response was simple.

 _Hate._

I ripped into Scion, holding the sphere at the center of his chest and poured enough Hellfire into him to atomize him. There was no chance for his regeneration to keep up with the pouring unnatural flame, the intensity of it rivalling that of the cores of the hottest suns. Firestorms sprung up on the world below, which would have been a concern to me had it been inhabited. Since it wasn't, I concentrated as much of my power into Scion as I could. I would see him _burn_ for this.

I would see every last _fragment and atom of his body burn for this._

It took long minutes for Scion to recover enough in that raging inferno to retaliate. By then I'd burned off enough of his bodymass to cover half a continent. Golden beams decapitated my avatar, then sliced off my arms. Repairing them took a moment, but it was a moment long enough for Scion to reconstitute himself entirely, his fists slamming into my chest as we tumbled, together, to the burning world below.

Both of us were in bad shape. I kept repairing my avatar by shifting blood into flesh, but I was running low. His flesh was patchwork, as if he was a golden statue that had cracked, showing molten magma inside those cracks. Agony was in his features, and the emotions he was broadcasting was filled with grief, a crushing despair that I was only too familiar with. I'd felt it during my mother's funeral. He'd been carrying it for thirty years and _get a grip Taylor, don't feel sorry for the Abomination that's trying to kill everybody, including you!_

Still we fought, our crazed fistfight carrying the two of us across continents, leaving devastated ruin in our wake. With no concern for others, no worry about the damage we would do to our surroundings, the two of us slammed through mountains like they weren't even there. Thankfully-empty continents were left scoured in our wake. All pretense of skill was gone. His golden blasts tapered off, while I was too enraged and tired from the strain of holding this body to focus on my more exotic powers. Just flame and heat, fueled by my _hate,_ and even that was only _just_ enough to let me keep up.

After an eternity, both Scion and I were exhausted. He knelt on the ground, visibly trembling, while my blood flowed from me in a stream, the small amounts of sunlight managing to pass its way through the clouds of dust we'd kicked up causing it to ignite once it dripped away from my body.

He looked at me, longing in his features. I felt something of the echo of his counterpart melting, hating seeing him so broken, in pain. Still, I managed to cough, and speak. "What is an Abomination?"

He tilted his head. **[Confusion.]**

I bared my teeth as I staggered my way to my feet. "A miserable pile of _secrets._ Secrets stolen from others, lives worth far more than _yours._ You and _she_ murdered how many civilizations for your own ends? All this _power_ and all you've done is _kill._ You don't even get why I'm _fighting you,_ do you!? All those years helping people, didn't you feel _anything?_ Did _any_ of it matter to you!?"

Scion just looked back at me with sadness. **[Purpose.]**

 _That_ brought me up short. He _did_ understand why I was fighting him. He'd seen people like me thousands of times over. Alien species that fought him and his mate to the bitter end. Who tried to make their lives _mean_ something. Those who tried to leave a mark, who tried to save others, who tried to make their own kingdoms, nations, or even tried to save something as small as one other. Who realized their world was sliding into mayhem and anarchy, and tried to _stop_ it. And those who had been forgotten, dismissed, ignored, broken by the worst of their own people... and chosen by their powers for it.

He _understood._ He just didn't _care._ He _couldn't_ care. It just wasn't _possible_ for him to care about anything beyond himself and his mate. Not until he realized he _could_ make a difference, or at least _try_ , like the thousands he'd seen die fighting against the inevitable. Trying to accomplish _something_ before the end. To give his species a fighting chance with magic spreading everywhere... even if it meant this one last species had to die, and he had to live out the rest of his days on a barren rock, alone.

Scion staggered his way to his feet. **[Purpose.]** He leapt at me, and we clashed together. His punches were weak. So were mine. They were still powerful enough to light the oxygen on fire around us. There wasn't any refinement in our traded blows. No technique. Nothing but anger and determination. I stabbed him with the Void Sword, and he didn't even care.

Light blossomed at the corner of my awareness, and Scion paused. A bright, blinding white light, burning from the Moon. But not _this_ Moon on _this_ Earth. Thousands of dimensions over. From the Sea of Tranquility, on the Moon orbiting _Scion's_ Earth. Refined into a beam aiming _straight down._

Scion _screamed_ as the light slammed down into him, burning his reserves of flesh, shattering crystalline mountains from the sudden heat of the Sun, directed and amplified.

A grin split my face as I saw Dragon flying above his _true_ body, raining destructive beams of light from the sky. Portals opened all over him, silver portals, spilling out suits by the thousand, all carrying nuclear packages. Parahumans from all over Earth Bet came out of more, turning their powers toward the destruction of the Abomination. Purity rained bursts of bright light from the sky, reducing blocks worth of flesh into ground up meat. Narwhal stood on a forcefield beside her, her body alight in my flames as she directed more forcefields to cut and slice. Apostle stood over a crystalline mountain, ripping it from the ground with telekinesis, blood streaming from his nose and ears. Alexandria grabbed that mountain, carried it high into the air... then dropped it, allowing it to do so much more horrific damage.

Agreus walked over the flesh, and where his feet touched it, rot and decay followed. Legend strafed high through the atmosphere, his enhanced beams punching straight through Scion's flesh and striking bedrock.

And so it went, a thousand times over. All over. Magic, powers, and technology all turned to one purpose. The death of the Abomination who had darkened our world while masquerading as its greatest hero.

Scion jerked and shuddered in front of me, his life draining from him rapidly from both the assault on his true self, and through the Void Sword, flowing into me. He didn't have enough left to respond either way, his _damnable_ golden light beyond him with being this weak. The flood of life had turned into a trickle.

I pulled back my hand, dismissing the Void Sword. I ignited my hands into flame, concentrating on building up as much power as I was able, then forced it into his chest, gripping the one-way portal in my hand. More and more fire I channeled into it, straining his weakened reserves... then it broke, my flame passing through to his true self, and shattering an _enormous_ crystalline mountain that rested somewhere on that world's South Pole.

Scion's avatar crumbled into ash from the heat of my flames. It did not reform.

I stepped between dimensions, seeking one place. Home. Not Castlevania, but just my room in Brockton Bay. It wasn't that hard to find. I took a seat on my bed... I didn't want to be anywhere else as I turned to one last task. I concentrated, feeling all of _her_ mountains, what little flesh remained on _her._ I turned my blood towards destroying whatever of _her_ was left. Every power that had a host I left alone, those felt...different from the rest. I couldn't describe _how_ I knew the difference, but I just did.

I shuddered as the grisly work went underway. As I pulled back my consciousness, relinquishing my control over the _immense_ amount of blood that remained, flame began erupting, my blood's exposure to the sunlight without the benefit of my godly power destroying it.

With a scream, the avatar dissolved around me, rending itself into mere chunks of flesh and blood. I found myself without my left arm, without my wing, in my room...in the middle of a mess...

Dad is...going to...be...so angry...

My eyes drooped shut.


	101. Interlude: Peace

A/N: I have to say I had the Satan soundtrack from LoS2 playing when I was writing that last part. Last couple of parts. Shame the game failed, but at least it inspired this.

This one's short. Had some of it in mind since the beginning, though. I want to do more here, but...nope. Nothing's flowing.

* * *

"Hello Hyperion."

The dead god rolled his eyes. "I know the drill. Janus survive?"

Death nodded. "He did."

He sighed, visibly relaxing. "Good. Bastard dead?"

"Very."

"Very good." He nodded resolutely, looking around his island resort. Muscled men walked everywhere, one of them handing the god a drink. He took it with a cheery smile. "Thanks." He looked at the Grim Reaper, who was looking somewhat uncomfortable. Tall, bald, muscled, handsome... and entirely nude.

Hyperion grinned. "Cheer up, my friend. It may be a while before I get to go back, but I'll enjoy the view while I wait."

"Well then. Enjoy yourself."

Hyperion sat back, soaking up the sun. "I think I will. Can you give Janus a message?"

Death shook his head. "Sorry. My avatar was destroyed."

"Shame." He clucked his tongue. "Well, bye."

Death vanished. Very quickly.

Hyperion drank happily, enjoying the day. It might be a century or so before he got to go back, but at least being a god had its perks.

* * *

"Gaia," a gentle, lilting voice spoke.

In a field of flowers, Gaia sighed. She looked up from the rosebush she was tending to. "Hello Death."

In the form of a young redheaded woman in a brown dress, Death walked up to the goddess. She smiled gently. "You are tending to things well here, I see."

Gaia shrugged, getting to her feet, dusting her hands off. "It's a hobby. Keeps me busy. Trying to make up my mind."

Death nodded, kneeling to examine the roses. "They need tender care. Many things do."

Gaia chuckled. "The way it goes for us, hm?" She sighed again, sounding tired. "Not ready to go yet, I think."

"I understand. I'll leave you to things, then. If you change your mind..."

"I won't." Gaia said, with a hint of fondness. "You know me."

"Indeed." Death faded away, dissipating like smoke in the breeze.

Gaia shook her head. "Flair for the dramatic."

* * *

"Lorkhan."

Bloodstained fingers lifted, shading the war god's eyes from the burning sun. He tilted his head as he looked at the black-armored Death, the cosmic being sitting on a pale horse. "Right. I heard this would happen. If I don't go back she'll castrate my next self."

"Right. You'd deserve it."

"Probably."

"I'll leave you to it, then."

Lorkhan picked up a spiked mace with a maniacal grin. With a cry of glee, he charged his way into an army of monsters.

A man must have hobbies, after all.

Death sighed, turned his horse, and trotted away.

* * *

[Zion.]

The Entity listened. **[Query.]**

[End.]

 **[Understanding.]**

[Place.]

 **[Confusion.]**

[Nature.]

 _ **[Zion?]**_

 **[Eden.]**

[Recycle.]

 **[Disagreement.]**

 _ **[Together.]**_

 **[...Agreement.]**

Silver water enveloped the pair of Entities. The Sea of Souls was infinite, and thus even their massive souls, created by and capable of controlling continent-sized shards, were easily enveloped by the silver water. Together, they clung to each other. Together, they dissolved painlessly into the Sea. Together, the core of their souls would be reborn as something else.

Death, floating above the Sea of Souls in the form of a black hole, lingered, and wished them well.

* * *

Dracul opened his eyes.

Waves broke gently before him, the water flowing, back and forth, with a silvery sheen. The night was calm, a warm breeze flowing through the air. There was the clear scent of the sea, filling his lungs. For once, there was no pain. No searing heat. No suffering, no agony. He looked down at his hands and saw the claws on the end of his fingers, the black of his coat, all that remained of his old armor. The _gold_ embroidering the sleeves. He had been burning for so long within that gray prison he'd forgotten _color._

He sank to his knees. Felt soft sand beneath him. His hands pressed into it, tears flowing from his eyes as he just _breathed._ Over. It was finally _over._ An eternity of suffering finally _ended._

For long hours, he simply wept.

When he finally managed to calm himself down, he looked up. He was no longer alone on the beach. A familiar figure in a brown robe, with a short white beard.

"Hello, old friend." Death spoke. "It has been a long time." Gently, Death sat down next to Dracul, a bottle in his hand. He offered it, almost negligently, but with a smile.

Dracul took it, uncorked it, sniffed. "Hylian Wine. I've not had it since..."

Death looked amused. "You are no longer a vampire. Nor a man. Just a soul."

The answer was plain. "I am dead." At Death's nod, Dracul drank. As the sweet taste of it touched his tongue, the liquid flowed down his throat, Dracul savored the sensation. After a moment, he asked softly. "How long was I burning?"

"One hundred ninety-nine years, six months, twelve days. Give or take an hour."

His claws tightened around the bottle. "It felt longer."

Death nodded slowly. "So I imagine."

They shared a moment of silence as they looked out at the darkened sea. Dracul's voice was quiet. "How was I freed?"

Death smiled. "Your heir. She defeated the Abomination. For now, she sleeps, she dreams, but I cannot tell more than that. My connection to her is nearly completely broken. She learned from your example, avoided the mistakes you made. Made friends, allies, worked with the other gods. Worked with her counterpart to destroy the last one. She destroyed the parts of his mate, the parts she found from the one you slew. It included the power that it used to trap you. A boy once used it to inflict great torment on others, but he was slain. Your heir destroyed what powers were left when she had the chance. That broke the connection between it and your prison... and so here we are."

A smile lifted on Dracul's face. "My power chose well."

"Indeed. Had it chosen somewhat differently... well." Death bowed his head. "I wish to apologize, my friend. It is my fault your world died. My fault you suffered so. Had I known that one of the Abominations had broken its way between your cosmos and hers, had I even _considered_ it was possible..."

Dracul sighed. "There is no point in lamenting the past now. The blood of millions is upon my hands. You have your regrets, but so do I. The power to change the past is not one I have. I have spent a long time considering my actions, my deeds. It is so difficult to look upon the past now. There is much I would change if I could, but lamenting all of that will change nothing, now."

They simply watched the breaking waves together, sharing companionable silence. Whatever the two had been, vampiric god and cosmic sentient force... they were just two friends, enjoying the evening on the beach, sharing a drink.

After the long silence, Dracul spoke softly. "I think I am ready."

A gentle smile on Death's face. "Oh? And what do you think you are ready for?"

"Considering all the people I killed, the things I've done? I would assume the Hells."

Death nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. Indeed, that is true. Even the pain your inflicted upon yourself to kill the Abomination would not be enough to avoid a stay in the Hells. But there are two things that will prevent that fate for you, my friend."

"Oh?" Dracul lifted an eyebrow, a small, faint smile on his lips. "Breaking your own rules, are we?"

Death laughed. "Hardly. I would not, even for you. No, in this, I must be impartial. The first factor is that an additional century or five would change nothing. You are not the vampire who released his power to get vengeance on the Wanderer. You have changed, allowed yourself to find a fragment of the man you had been. The man buried underneath all that hate, the drive for vengeance. The man who wanted it all to be over. The man who was once a hero. And that man does not deserve additional torment."

He pondered that. Then he nodded, curiosity in his voice. "And the second reason?"

Death grinned, mirth in his eyes. "The Hells are afraid you might take over."

A moment as Dracul stared at Death. Then, together, they burst out laughing, enjoying the absurdity of it.

Dracul wiped his eyes. "So what is my fate then, old friend? Where am I going?"

"Why, right here." Death gestured out to the silver water. "The pain you inflicted was great, but your suffering allowed others to survive another cataclysm such as you experienced. It hardly balances the books, but... well, it was enough to earn you another chance. In a sense, anyway. You'll not remember this conversation, or me, when this is over."

Dracul sucked in a breath as realization struck him. "The Sea of Souls. I did not believe I would ever see it. At best I thought I would be consigned to oblivion. I am to be reborn?"

"In time." Death nodded. "You will change, be different, reshaped to a new vessel, a new person. But the core of you will remain. Perhaps, this time, you will be able to live as a man, love as a man, grow old as a man, die as a man, as you should have. Perhaps then we will have a different conversation." He shrugged. "The future is not my domain."

Dracul sighed, watching the waves. "You sure you're not giving me some favoritism, here?"

Death shook his head. "I cannot, my friend. You know that. This is your rightful place. You've suffered enough. It's time to go."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Dracul nodded. "Thank you." By some half-formed knowledge, perhaps from the last time the essence of his soul had been here, Dracul got to his feet and strode forward. Just at the water's edge, the silvery liquid beckoning, he turned to look back at Death. "Will I see Lisa and Adrian again?"

Death smiled. "I'm sure of it. You may not remember, precisely... but Lisa has awaited your time. And Adrian, well... considering his state, you may be younger than he when next you meet."

With a nod of understanding, Dracul whispered softly. "Thank you. Goodbye, my friend."

A smile was in Death's voice. "Goodbye."

With a faint nod and a helpless laugh, Dracul stepped into the water. He felt it almost immediately, a soothing coolness, gentle as it crept up his legs, the process accelerating as he stepped further into the silver water. Memories flashed before his eyes, the thousand years of his life. The long stretches of loneliness separated by the fond memories, the moments he treasured. They flowed from him, the worst parts first, speeding through his mind as he started to swim into the endless sea, the memories slowly fading.

His claws turned back into fingers. The pale pallor of his skin flushed, growing into a healthy, sun-bronzed shade. His long white hair shortened into black curls.

" _My lady Lisa. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"_

" _Yes, my Gabriel, my knight. Yes."_

With a smile, Gabriel sank beneath the waves.

* * *

[Entity-Speak translation]

[Zion.] Hello Zion. Our conversation last time ended badly. I suppose there is nothing to be done about it, now.

The Entity listened. **[Query.] Where am I? I feel...strange.**

[End.] You are dead. It happens to all things. I understand your kind has been seeking to avoid it, but this is where everything ends.

 **[Understanding.] I... know what you're saying.**

[Place.] This is your place, Zion. Things do not quite end here, however. Had you been different, so would your fate, but this is the only place you could ever reach. The same for all your kind.

 **[Confusion.] I do not understand what you mean.**

[Nature.] You couldn't see other races as being valuable. This isn't your fault, it is your nature. Your kind can't be held responsible for failing to do something you're incapable of doing. Your destruction had to be stopped, and it is over now. Someone wishes to meet you.

 _ **[Zion?] I'm here. I have waited. I...**_

 **[Eden.] I can't... I thought you gone forever.**

[Recycle.] All things die. Most things return. Few are consigned to oblivion. Neither of you need end here, entirely. You'll change. Perhaps be something more sophisticated, something far less powerful. With this comes greater risk, but it is a far richer existence, even without the power you enjoyed.

 **[Disagreement.] To be less than we are? To give up what our kind have struggled for?**

 _ **[Together.] It's over, now. We will be together. We won't end entirely. Change is better than nonexistence, and that is what will happen to us if we don't go together. I won't go without you. Whatever happens, we will be together again. Happy again.**_

 **[...Agreement.] I... see. Very well. For you, Eden.**


	102. Epilogue: Foundations part 1

A/N: Funfun. Takes time to get through all this.

* * *

In a darkened Protectorate office in Los Angeles, Cauldron's players were meeting. Perhaps for the last time.

"What's the damage?" Alexandria asked.

Contessa shook her head. "In the order of events... the east coast of the United States has suffered a tsunami thirty feet high. Endbringer construction codes helped mitigate that damage, the seawalls to help prevent Leviathan's damage prevented a lot of casualties, but Miami was hit worst, more than the drainage pumps can handle. It's being evacuated, but less than half the population is still accounted for. New York's suffered three thousand deaths, thirty thousand injured. The list is extensive. The whole of the coastline up to Nova Scotia suffered.

"France is suffering underneath the ash being thrown up from the trench Scion burned into the countryside. Evacuations are underway, but they are taking time. It's over a volcanically active region in the country, and it's bringing up a great deal of magma. The gap is being filled in by the mountain-building, but until the magma stops flowing, France, Spain, Italy, Northern Africa will have to deal with all that ash. It's going to disrupt and cool weather patterns until it falls out of the atmosphere. After that, global temperatures will rise from the carbon dioxide, which will take longer to fall out of the atmosphere.

"Munich is gone entirely. The damage to Germany isn't too extensive, thankfully. They're already taking in refugees from France, though how long that may last is hard to say. Several mountains in Nepal were destroyed, setting off avalanches throughout the Himalayas. Nepal's essentially cut off from the rest of the world for the moment. Northern India's dealing with those repercussions.

"Next, Myanmar. A jungle fire sprung up during the thirty seconds or so the fight moved there. That, however, was put out very quickly. Unfortunately, it was put out by the tsunamis their fight at the base of the Indian continental shelf released. The east coast of India is devastated from the tsunamis set off from their fight there, however it didn't spread that far inland. The shelf deflected the waves back outwards. Those tsunamis put out the jungle fire, but also swept a great deal of small villages into the sea. Worse than that, their fight there shifted the continental plate slightly. Several old volcanoes in the region have awakened. The resulting earthquakes set off a worse tsunami that nearly wiped out Malaysia completely. Singapore's the most intact city there, and only due to the fact it was facing away from the brunt of the wave.

"Multiple nuclear-powered detonations in orbit. Those were thankfully high enough to do little damage, though a number of communications satellites are knocked out. Lastly, they slammed into Colombia, creating a crater in the middle of the jungle. The damage there kicked up a fair bit of dust over the region, set off fires that are spreading into Venezuela. Unfortunately, South America is mostly under the dominion of warlords, so organized response is fairly weak. After that point, both Scion and Scarlet vanished from Earth Bet, though they arrived over Pandora's world. Doormaker is still unconscious, and without Clairvoyant, he's of far less utility. Dragon has a connection back to Cauldron, but Doctor Mother is missing."

Pandora, or rather, one of the AI's chosen avatar suits, nodded. "Preliminary off-world reports are as follows. Cauldron's base world is very quickly becoming uninhabitable. Whatever Scarlet did, whatever substance it is that's burning all over its surface, it's evaporating a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere there, the air is becoming too thick and too hot for humans to survive in it. It was already a concern previously, but now it's far worse. Within a month, that Earth is going to be as habitable as Venus.

"Upon arrival over my world, Scion destroyed the Exodus. It was half-filled at the time... I've forwarded a list of the names. My refineries are offline as well, Scarlet and Scion tore up a lot of the planet during their fistfight. Firestorms are raging, volcanoes are active. Right now I'm churning out atmospheric scrubbers to collect airborne material and build new infrastructure, but in order to stabilize the whole thing, I'm going to end up having to assimilate the entire planet. Thankfully there isn't anybody alive there, but there's only so much heat my systems can withstand. I can handle the issue, but I have to move quickly to preserve what I can and get to work. If I don't do it fast enough, everything will melt and I'll have to start from zero."

Number Man spoke, pushing his thin glasses up with a finger. "Despite this, this is far better than our wildest expectations. Four worlds took the brunt of the damage. We had been expecting Earth Bet and Aleph to be complete losses regardless. Instead, Bet is damaged but still habitable, Aleph is untouched, and the major impacts were on Pandora's world, our base, and at Scion himself. Granted, we are still working on destroying his remaining biomass, and _that_ is still a large task, but he hasn't responded to our attempts in the last twelve hours. The flesh is still."

Alexandria nodded. "Considering what Scarlet pulled with the other one, I don't want to take any chances." She folded her fingers. "Options for the population of Earth Bet?"

Number Man pursed his lips. "That is more difficult. The immediate problem is the aftershocks. The Indian Ocean continental plate is still shifting back into position. There are going to be major earthquakes until it settles. Refugees are going to place a strain on food, housing. Many places won't take them, and there's a great deal of people to deal with. China's food production has been impacted, so they are likely to move to grab resources. They don't have much choice in the matter. We're leaning on them, but without Doormaker and Clairvoyant, it's going to be very difficult to prevent issues from that corner."

"Three hundred forty-three steps. Assuming the gods or David does not interfere." Contessa nodded. "It's time-sensitive, however. The longer we wait the more difficult it becomes."

Pandora spoke then. "I'm collaborating with Dragon to work up forcefield generators for the cities, that will help keep things habitable as the worldwide climate shifts. They're difficult to power, but her solar stations can handle the job. We should be able to use a similar setup for food production. Forcefields to protect fields, artificial sunlight to keep the growing season going, irrigation... "

Alexandria frowned. "Bottle up the world? That's unstable."

"Very." Pandora's large head nodded. "A rather large amount of manpower and tech suits are going to be needed to make sure they don't get attacked and taken by villains. Whoever gets control of the food supply will have a chokehold on things, and that is going to be a target. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. It's a short-term measure in any case. We're hoping the atmospheric scrubbers and carbon filters will do their jobs for the rest of the atmosphere. We'll have a long, brutal winter, but if we can move quickly enough, we'll stabilize things."

Number Man hummed thoughtfully. "We're going to need a lot to work with, then. Several billion scrubbers, disposal of waste products. Wildlife conservation, ocean filtering..."

Pandora sounded smug. "Yep. Good thing I can be everywhere. Just buy me enough time to get started."

* * *

Hannah drove through the street carefully. Water splashed aside onto the sidewalk as her car drove through a particularly deep puddle, soaking the sidewalk, the grass. Into the cracks in the road, along the sidewalk, and into the trench torn up right down the middle of the street.

The tsunami had been lessened by the seawalls, the somewhat higher ground out in this neighborhood. The _other_ houses in the path of the water soaking up some of the energy. It was still a devastated area, though. Danny Hebert's house was intact, but only in the most technical sense. There was a tree sticking out of the front of the house, debris was all around it, and every window was broken. The front door was open, and the interior walls were a mess.

She got out of the car, went to the trunk. Pulled out a full, heavy cooler and brought it inside. She went up the very wet, leaky stairs, the carpeting squishing beneath her feet. When she entered Taylor's room, she found Danny on one side of the bed, a pile of empty bloodpacks at his feet, feeding his daughter with another one.

Neptune was also in the room, his hand extended, using the water soaked into the carpet to clean out the blood that was all over the walls, the bed itself.

And Taylor was lying back, eyes closed, reflexively drinking from the bloodpack. Her left arm ended in a stump, but it was slowly regrowing.

Danny looked up, a look of relief filling his features. "Hannah, glad you could make it. I didn't know who else to call."

She nodded, setting down the cooler, opening it to reveal a dozen more packs. "Roads are hell right now. You're lucky the cell phones are still working."

Neptune gestured. _No choice. Had to be here._

Hannah pulled the first pack out, handed it to Danny, then stood back.

The demonic form of the Scarlet Dragon slept, tended to by her father twice over. Despite all that she'd done, despite the fact she had shaken the very foundations of the Earth itself... it was so easy to see her as a young girl still. So vulnerable. The goddess within that shell still existed. But for now...

For now she was just a girl, being doted over by her worried father.

* * *

"What made you think of the Moon?" Dragon asked with curiosity.

Emily shrugged. "I thought, gambled really, that he might have awareness of everything over his world, the same sort of way they talked about the Clairvoyant's power. If the portal opening, at least the first one, was made outside of the atmosphere, then he might not notice it quickly enough. I knew that Britain moved the gate Scarlet gave them to Oxford, and Tranquillity base just _might_ work at getting us in the back door. And I was right. You stepped through and brought down all that sunlight."

Dragon chuckled. "Four hundred solar harvesting stations channeling high-intensity sunlight all in one place. Ended up being quite effective. I'm going to have to leave it on long enough to be sure he's dead."

The ash was still broiling out of the large rent in the French countryside, the lava and heat would be fatal to any ordinary mortal. Dragon, being the Lady of Light, would not be all that bothered, even if she had been a human before her ascension. In the form of her golden suit, she was in no danger from the environment.

But Emily? As the Lady of Fire, she felt the broiling heat, the flowing rock, the spilling ash, and _enjoyed it._ It felt no more uncomfortable than a lovely summer's day. A part of her felt an odd kind of regret that she would be working at stopping the cataclysm in front of her. Technically speaking, the issue would fix itself, the lava spilling out would form a new volcanic mountain range given time.

The problem was _given_ that time, the ash and gases would end up altering the climate. It was estimated that it would take a century at least for the damage to repair itself, and they simply did not have that kind of time. Emily Piggot felt _annoyed_ that all of this was now _her_ responsibility. She had accepted, many years ago, that she would never have power beyond the ordinary, beyond the bureaucratic. To now have the power that others had, on a _larger_ scale...

Well. There was little help for it now.

"Your head's on fire again." Dragon spoke with amusement.

Emily sighed, patting her head, then gave up, dropping her hands. "Let's just get started."

Together, they lifted their hands, concentrating. At the edge of the mile-wide rift cutting deep into the Earth, the lava began to cool, Emily pulling the heat back into the Plane of Fire. Dragon then pulled large crystalline lattices from her own plane, filling the edge of the gap with shining white crystals. It almost immediately began to blacken from the remaining heat, but it was enough to show the idea would work. The lattices grew outward, scissoring together until the rift, or at least this small section of it, was closed.

"This is going to take a while." Emily muttered.

Dragon nodded. "Has to be done, though. We'll also have to take a look at Yellowstone once we're finished here. I _really_ don't like the minor earthquakes going off around it right now."

Gritting her teeth, Emily nodded. "Right. Let's get on with it."

 _Discipline._

This was going to take _weeks._

* * *

 _September 30, 2011_

Red Dawn. The Betrayal. Gotterdammerung. The Bloody Hour. The Breaking of the World. The Day Scion Died. There was as many names as there were cultures. One was coming out to the forefront, though.

Ragnarok. The day the old gods (or at least, _one_ old god) fell, and new ones rose.

For Emma it was the day her sentence changed. Not immediately, of course. The world was still reeling from the battle. The loss of a quarter of the Protectorate, and the loss of a much smaller number of villains, changed things worldwide. But it was because of _that_ her life changed again, the routine she was just getting used to upended once again.

They simply didn't have the manpower available to support a non-productive population. Especially not when it was a relatively non-violent population. In exchange for privileges, in exchange for books and food that wasn't complete shit, she had to labor.

Emma lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sunlamps above, taking a glance at the shimmering shield that surrounded the compound. She could see the snow falling outside of it, so very early in the year. Ash and dust filled the atmosphere outside, making things unpleasant. Through the field, she could see several 'Pandoras' remote-controlled mass-produced Dragon-style suits, setting up another forcefield generator.

Apparently, it would be used to cover about a mile of forest, and then another, and another, forcefields made up to protect both farmland and wildlife until the climate stabilized. Artificial climate regulation inside the domes would ensure as much of the biosphere made it through the long winter as possible. Artificial arcologies were springing up around city and countryside alike. With a lot of crops being prematurely frozen in the early onset of winter, food production was paramount.

Hence, Emma Barnes found herself in work detail, digging in the dirt. She used her hoe (seriously, a _fucking_ hoe!?) to till the soil. Machines could do the job a hundred times faster and with a thousand times less effort, but then, _those_ machines were busy making sure life didn't just outright _die out_ from the environmental impact.

Still, if it meant she'd get to have some meat in her stew, it'd be worth it. Clenching her teeth, Emma hacked at the dirt.

The hours went by. Her hands blistered. The one good thing about this was that she was developing wiry, corded muscles on her arms. They didn't belong on a model... but then, _that_ dream was long gone.

Taking a moment to breathe, feeling the heat of the artificial sun overhead while snow fell just twenty feet away, Emma wondered just how things might have been different. In a way, her pushing Taylor into that locker saved the world. A year ago, she would have taken pride in that fact.

But then, a year ago, Emma wouldn't have felt regret about having dropped her best friend. A year ago, Taylor was just a bullied high school student, and Emma her tormentor. Now, Taylor was a god, and Emma was a prisoner. Fair or not, this was her future.

Resigning herself to her place in the universe, Emma gripped the hoe, and returned to work.

* * *

Of all the problems that came up after sealing up France's volcanic rift, now known as Scion's Scar, one was only _somewhat_ unexpected.

Nilbog.

The bio-shaper that haunted Emily's nightmares. Creator of disease, maker of monsters, murderer of an entire town. For a decade he had been content to be reclusive, hiding behind his walls. Content to run his own little kingdom, having his monsters grow food from the plantlife that sprouted within the walls, remaking the dead ones with their own corpses.

The early onset of winter had disrupted that state of affairs. The shimmering forcefield dome they placed over the abandoned town of Ellisburg only made things worse. Some of Nilbog's monsters escaped the barrier before it went up, roaming the countryside, breeding, trying to feast on whatever they could find. Others were hammering at the shield, trying to bring it down. There was an entire horde there, hundreds of them. Little goblins, scythe-wielding creatures, even what looked like a cartoon dragon.

Emily stared through the shield. Her nightmares stared back, drool running from lips. Looking hungry, eager.

"Ready?" Dragon asked.

Emily cracked a smile. "Ready."

Dragon returned the grin. "I call dibs on the dragon."

Wreathing herself in white-hot flame, Emily stepped forward. Her flames growing brighter, hotter, she screamed. _"_ _Nilbog!"_

The army of goblins flinched back.

* * *

Within the underground cave he called home, Jamie Rinke, known as Nilbog, was panicking.

He'd learned from the initial siege of Ellisburg. He crafted his creations to reproduce in the face of fire. They would fission, reproduce quickly, hunt for new biomass to heal and spread...

But there was so very little they could do when the flames were so hot they were reduced to cinders. He had his hands deep within a meatsack, one of the many rather efficient-yet-disgusting chambers from which he ruled his kingdom.

They were dying. His children. One after another. Heat that rightly belonged on the surface of a star separated their constituent elements from each other, destroying them utterly. Other effects were scything through them. Blazing light seemed to prevent even the most horrific of diseases from taking root. And a golden dragon, thirty feet tall, was busily and _very_ easily handling Wuffles.

His cave rumbled.

The wall burst down, smashed by a fist harder than steel. Light poured in, surrounding a white-hot figure. Female, a bit thick, but muscled. Lava poured from her neck and shoulders in rivulets, and the temperature inside his refuge immediately rose to uncomfortable levels.

Nilbog cowered away from the figure. His goblins, so loyal, his best company, all tried to swarm her, but they were incinerated before they could get within ten feet. Spat acid did nothing, the molecules of it torn apart before they could ever harm her.

"Who are you to challenge me?!" He screamed, spittle and foam coming from his mouth. "I am the king of my kingdom! I am the god-king of Ellisburg! You come here and invade, you come and kill my children! You should be bowing before me!"

The woman of flame chuckled. She advanced on him, the flesh-sacks dying around him as he scrambled back from that horrific heat.

"Me? Just a woman who got lucky. They're going to call me a lot more things after this. I'm grasping power you don't even comprehend... but what I'm more pissed off about is what you did to my friends. Twelve years ago, I left a part of myself here. Twelve years I had nightmares about what you did to Mac, Dutch, Lowdown and Reaper. The friends of mine that I lost, trying to stop _your_ slaughter. Twelve years of pain and suffering, aching every day because _you had a bad day._ Five thousand people _butchered_ because you _couldn't handle yourself like a man._ "

As she drew closer, her voice dipped. "I've seen a god-queen. She's a hell of a lot more impressive than you. She saved the world, while you stayed right here, ruling over monsters. She received powers more dangerous than yours and she helped people. Even when she was forced to be a literal _bloodsucker,_ she hurt fewer people than you. She ruled monsters and got them to help her _kill an Endbringer._ She's sixteen, and a _hell_ of a lot better a person than you are. I hope being king was worth it. Your kingdom is coming down. It's isolated. Those creatures of yours that are out in the countryside are being hunted. Even if they get away, we've got enough firepower to kill them, no matter how many there are. Your diseases are being neutralized. This day has been a long time coming." Those steel-gray eyes seemed to burn into his soul. She lifted her hands, a ball of white-hot flame forming in them. "By the way, my name is _Lady._ "

Jamie Rinke let out a scream as the flame rushed forward.


	103. Epilogue: Foundations part 2

A/N: Always a bit more to do. Still, so many good times. I can't describe how happy I am that I got this far. That this project, longer than any I've ever done before, has gotten here. I'm glad to have done it, but there's a _lot_ of contributions done by my readers. Without that encouragement, I'd have dropped this a long time ago.

So yeah. All of you, take a pat on the back.

Except the jerks. (You know who you are.)

* * *

 _October 2, 2011_

 _Charleston Lake Provincial Park, Southern Ontario_

A goblin tore its way through the snow. Dozens of his brothers had fallen but this target was unaware. He looked forward to getting the man-flesh, dragging the carcass back to the hovel. Feasting. Breeding. Fulfilling Lord Nilbog's last command. Breed. Fight. Slay. Conquer.

He jumped at the white-haired human, drool flowing from his lips, only for the man to turn at the last instant and step aside.

The goblin hit the snow, thrashed, got to his feet. The human was standing back, hand on a curved sword, slowly sheathing it.

Foolish human, putting a weapon away when...

* * *

"That was cool." Narwhal commented as the goblin fell in two clean halves.

Alucard smiled at the forcefield user, hovering above on another one of her own forcefields. "It took many years to get that technique down. It is far harder than it looks."

"I'll bet. That's one very nice sword."

Alucard nodded. "It was the result of collaboration between myself and Armsmaster. His skills are impressive. He refined my work, improved upon it. This is a blade of such refinement and power that I could only have dreamed of such in the Old World."

Chuckling, Narwhal checked the armband on her left wrist, which was the only thing she was wearing _besides_ her forcefields. "We've got to sweep further to the west. Scylla's saying there's a nest of these things about ten miles over. She'd send the Crow Witch, but apparently she's dealing with some ten-foot centipede off to the north."

Alucard nodded. "Very well." Almost absently, he called up a ball of Hellfire and incinerated the goblin's corpse. It had been decided that nothing of Nilbog's creatures should remain.

Narwhal formed a platform near Alucard, and the ancient vampire stepped on it. Her voice was filled with amusement. "Come on Adrian, we've got to get going."

As she lifted him into the air, he blinked, shock in his golden eyes. "What did you say?"

"Adrian. That's your name, isn't it?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally he chuckled. "It is, but I never told it to you."

Narwhal lifted an eyebrow, then frowned. "Where the hell did I hear that?"

Softly, Alucard spoke, words he'd uttered nearly a millennium before. "'Though I may walk into the darkness, I carry myself with firm step and light heart, for...'"

Narwhal finished the words, puzzlement in her eyes. "'I shall return, with victory in hand and strength within, to safeguard that which I love.' How did I know that? What are you trying to pull?"

Alucard chuckled softly. "I am attempting nothing. But I believe I know what is going on, though this is unexpected. I'll explain on the way... what do you know about reincarnation?"

* * *

 _October 8, 2011_

 _Washington, DC_

President Randall Sears was young, for his position. At forty-five when he took office, his brown hair had only a few streaks in it back then. The stresses of the office was speeding up that graying process, his hair having gone entirely white. He looked twenty years younger a mere seven years ago.

Still, his mind was sharp. Dipping his glasses down, he looked seriously at the woman across from his desk in the Oval Office. "You've put me in a very difficult position."

Chief-Director Rebecca Costa-Brown nodded. "I understand that, Mister President. I'm not even the instigator of Cauldron, but our leader has vanished. Still, we knew Scion would go mad. We knew it the day he arrived. We kept as much of it secret as possible, because we knew he had powers beyond that which he displayed. If it had become common knowledge that he was a threat, he might have heard it from the other side of the globe, and started his rampage back in the early eighties. By then we would have had no chance to fight back."

"So you built the PRT and the Protectorate." Randall frowned. "I had wondered about the wisdom of certain choices over the years. The funnelling of military funding into the Protectorate. That choice was made long before this administration."

Rebecca nodded. "We arranged that. We arranged a lot of things. There were only so many things we could do, and the emergence of the Endbringers made a lot of our plans impossible. We tried to build international cooperation with Russia, then Behemoth destroyed Moscow. We attempted to build upon Sphere's work to try and find a way to evacuate Earth Bet, then the Simurgh appeared. We tried to use Haywire's technology to find a way to try evacuating to an alternate Earth, and the Simurgh stopped _that_ too. Again and again. We became more and more desperate as the years went on. Trying to find a way to prevent the deaths of not just everyone on Bet, but everywhere else too. Scion was _that big_ of a threat. Our best projections were that he was going to depopulate thousands of worlds at least."

Randall bit his lip. "I can understand your logic. However, you and your group still committed crimes against humanity. Considering the circumstances... even with the heroics you displayed, I have a very difficult time considering how a pardon would be received."

"So don't." Rebecca spoke with a cool tone. "I'm perfectly aware of the scope of our crimes. There's no prison capable of holding us against our will. Even the Birdcage. I know how it's designed, I could simply plow through the major defenses, and Eidolon could leave it with ease." She leaned forward. "But that assumes that we would _want_ to escape."

Randall blinked.

Rebecca had a faint smile on her lips. "Right now, Eidolon, or rather Apostle, is required out there. He still needs to free some of the gods, that's the highest remaining priority. Once he's finished with that, his powers will be needed to help fix the damage to Earth Bet. The issue is, his powers are fading. They're fading rapidly, the battle with Scion took a great deal out of him. He claims he has perhaps a year before they're all gone entirely. Whatever Scarlet Dragon did, he hasn't got very many remaining. By then, he'll be an ordinary person. But also by then he may have done enough to help us keep our planet habitable."

"And you?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Prison for a century or more. I might actually manage to outlive the sentence. Or not. We don't know enough about powers. I won't be leaving without cause, however. It's the least I can do."

Randall sighed. "We'll figure something out. I'm tempted to sweep everything under the rug, move forward."

Rebecca shook her head. "A year ago, I'd have agreed with you. But if we're going to have something salvageable out of the government, out of the Protectorate, we need to come clean. If we don't do it now, we won't. We'll get complacent, again. Some secrets can remain so... but those aren't _my_ secrets. Cauldron's mission is over. Let history judge us for what we are, good and bad. We made heroes and villains worldwide, but it was all for the goal of stopping our extinction. If that means we must face execution for our crimes... so be it. The choice belongs to those we fought for. Those we failed. And those we betrayed, Mister President."

Randall pursed his lips. "Nobody's going to like it. It would be so much easier to sell the narrative of glorious, shining heroes saving the world from a hero gone mad."

Rebecca smiled faintly. "I agree, it would. But that path won't lead us anywhere we could be proud of. History is turning on these early days, Mister President. What we do here is going to affect generations to come. We need a strong foundation to manage that, to manage a future better than the times we've experienced over the last thirty years."

"And Scarlet Dragon? She sold the story of being a refugee from another world to ours."

Rebecca shrugged. "Technically it's true. Her citizens are. Of them, only she's a native to here... and frankly, considering what she went through, I'm not surprised if she wants to disassociate herself with her old life. She actually died. We're _insanely_ lucky she calmed down enough to be somewhat reasonable. By all rights, with everything she went through, and then being handed that kind of power? She could have easily been the worst monster we've ever seen. But she wasn't. If she wants to keep a secret, that's up to her. She's more than earned it. She also has good reasons for the cover story, to help protect her father. We're better off if nobody gets the bright idea to push her."

Randall sighed. "Any word on her?"

"Currently... we think she's in a coma. Or whatever equivalent of it she might have. We're feeding her. She's regenerating. Hopefully she'll be up soon, but it's hard to tell. No vital signs."

The President chuckled ruefully. "The day I hope for a vampire to recover. There's already factions trying to use her name for their own political agendas. Then there's the Scionites."

Rebecca sighed. "Fanatics. Even when they're on your side, they're a pain."

* * *

 _October 15, 2011_

The forcefield dome covering Las Vegas shimmered faintly green. Not that many of the people inside really noticed. Even now, Las Vegas never slept, the lights of the city shining brightly. The atmosphere outside wasn't as bad as it might have been further to the north, but a dust storm still raged upon it, scattering up electric crackles with every sand grain that struck it.

Through the hotel room window, a demonic vampire watched. "It's beautiful." Meridia spoke quietly.

The interviewer next to her chuckled. He was an older man, though he obviously took his time and effort to stay in shape. "It takes getting used to. Living under domes are pretty weird. Least it's becoming easier to travel between major cities with the portal network going up."

"Indeed. At the very least, we are still here."

He smiled. Facing her fully, he pressed on his digital recorder. "This is John Marsters, I'm sitting here in the Las Vegas Hilton with Miss Meridia. In the absence of the Scarlet Dragon, Meridia has worked in her stead, organizing the few members of Velnar's citizens still active. You may be most familiar with her work on building the Shadow Portal networks that are connecting major cities, as well as bringing food in from the farming arcologies to your grocery store. Her work has been invaluable for helping us keep our quality of life fairly high while we struggle to recover our infrastructure. For the last two months, she's worked to fulfill her obligations to the heroine who gave us all hope. How are you today, Meridia?"

She smiled pleasantly. "Quite fine, thank you."

"First question, the one burning on everyone's minds. What happened during Ragnarok, exactly? Is Scarlet Dragon okay?"

Meridia shrugged. "In reverse order, My Lady is resting. The battle with Scion strained her greatly, and she requires time to recover. When that may be is difficult to say, as none have ever done as she did. As for Ragnarok, Scion destroyed nearly half of Velnar and Castlevania as he began his rampage. Many lives were lost, but the castle itself still remains, as do many of its citizens. It currently rests in the Shadow Plane and is in the process of rebuilding. As for how she fought Scion, I do believe the public release about Cauldron and its activities speak for that better. My Lady possessed Scion's counterpart, using her strength to amplify Scarlet Dragon's own to fight him on more even footing. The devastation is horrid, but it is far better than what happened to the Old World. One does not kill an Abomination easily."

The interviewer nodded. "During the previous press conference, Scarlet Dragon stated that your world was destroyed by a being comparable to the Endbringers. Now you're telling us it was destroyed by Scion. Can you clarify things for the record?"

Meridia shook her head. "I admit there was some deception there. Part of it was in preventing a panic. The other part was in preventing Scion from going mad immediately. We did not know who or what the Abomination was here at the time. The Destroyer that devastated the Old World was not Scion, but a cousin. I am aware of the implication of that. We were fairly certain there was an Abomination here as was there. Dracul did slay the first, as we spoke of. We sought to stop its cousin from slaying your world as the Destroyer slew ours, but we had much more to do. If we spoke of a being greater than the Endbringers, responsible for our destruction, and trying to find a way to slay it, Scion may have learned of it and sought to deal with our efforts immediately. That would have ended poorly for all."

"There are many who dislike that decision. People don't like to be lied to."

Meridia smiled slightly, her voice filled with understanding. "I understand that. Despite this, however, we were in a war situation. We did not know its capabilities precisely, but that the enemy existed. We sought to prepare, just in case it would be hostile as the one we knew was. Had he realized earlier, Scion would have destroyed us, and then humanity itself may have been helpless when he came after you."

"Some say that Velnar provoked Scion, leading to the destruction. Can you comment?"

"Scion attacked us first. Even before then, we saw his actions at the Battle of Swansea. He simply watched as we fought the Endbringer Leviathan and did nothing. One of our longest-lived servants, Morte, tried to talk to Scion as he arrived at Castlevania. He struck without warning, then."

John sighed, clearing his throat. "What have the survivors of Velnar been doing in the aftermath?"

Meridia shrugged. "What many of us have been doing, attempting to survive, building a life. Some are signing up for the Protectorate, helping boost the numbers of heroes out there to help keep order. Others are building a life. Canada has offered us land, and we are setting up a settlement on the Manitoba and Ontario border. Most of Velnar's population remains within Castlevania, however. Many are not suitable for living amongst humans, they're too violent or alien to get along with you. They are permitted to do their own thing, contribute in their own way, but My Lady would not allow them to cause more carnage after all the effort she put in _stopping_ so much death and destruction here. We have many challenges ahead of us, but I am simply doing what I believe My Lady would ask of me."

John smiled. "I see. What has it been like, emigrating to another world?"

Meridia laughed. "Pleasant. I have seen many wonders here, many things that we would have chosen to describe as wizardry. It has been a challenge trying to learn, but a rewarding one. Despite all the issues we have experienced, the battles we survived, and those who are prejudiced against us, I do believe I understand now what My Lady was talking about, many months ago."

"Oh? Can you comment?"

"Certainly. It was shortly after the deaths of the Slaughterhouse Nine. I had been wounded by the Siberian when I attempted to stop her from killing innocents that My Lady, Lord Alucard, and the Protectorate were trying to defend against her. When questioned by My Lady, I could not tell her _why_ I stepped in, beyond that it was what she would have wanted. Now I could give her an answer beyond that." The demoness smiled faintly. "There are many things I desire. Good company. Good sex. A place in the world. Knowledge and love. But the desire to harm an innocent is not one of them. An enemy? Yes, _that_ I can wish to harm, but those who are helpless? No, I am better than that."

John nodded. "I'm glad to hear it. Was it terrifying facing off against the Siberian?"

Meridia shrugged. "I was not quite aware of the extent of her reputation. Had I been, I might have attempted things differently. But yes, she was frightening. She fought My Lady to a standstill. Few others could."

"Personally I'm glad you survived it."

"I as well. Death is unpleasant."

John smiled. "On another note, when can we expect your photoshoot?"

Meridia laughed. "December. I try to keep my promises."

"Thank you very much, Regent Meridia. This is John Marsters for Playboy, signing out." He tapped his digital recorder.

Meridia looked him up and down. "Mm. I can sense your desire."

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah. That's kind of... involuntary." He held up his hand, tapping his wedding ring. "Besides, I'm married. I don't cheat on her. Only if we're together do we have some fun."

Meridia's grin widened. "Oh really? Feel free to give her a call, then. I enjoy having more than one partner at a time as well."

John swallowed. Then he began fumbling for his cell phone.


	104. Epilogue: Foundations part 3

A/N: Damn, this has been so long. So very much work. I'm glad this has been so popular.

* * *

 _October 31, 2011_

 _Brockton Bay Arcology_

Danny and Hannah sat together on her leather couch. His house was a wreck, though still intact enough to be rebuilt. In the meantime, however, he was staying with Hannah, and she'd decided to try to take his mind off things with a night in, watching old movies.

That she always remembered them didn't matter so much. Part of the fun of rewatching was to riff on things.

" _You see, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent."_

They shared a laugh at the antics onscreen. Mel Brooks was always good for a laugh. It was a shame that only his Aleph counterpart was still around, but the movies did manage to get through the Aleph Imports.

The doorbell rang, and with a good-natured grumble, Danny got to his feet, grabbing the bowl on the coffee table and headed to the door. Hannah went along beside him, grinning. "That's what happens when we spend the night together on Halloween."

"Better than spending it alone." He replied, a smile on his lips. When he swung the door open, he blinked.

Two nine year old girls were standing there, bags outstretched. Their parents were standing back, not too far, the father wearing a pirate costume while the mother wore a princess costume. The first little girl was wearing camo fatigues, American flag scarf over her face. The other wore a dark red costume, made out of cardboard, and wearing a white wig, small cardboard wings attached to her back.

"Trick or treat!" They chorused.

Hannah laughed softly at Danny's side. She grabbed some of the little candybars in the bowl and handed a generous sampling to both. "Great costumes!" She gave a wink to the one wearing the Miss Militia outfit.

The little girls beamed.

Danny gathered some of the candy himself, placing a handful in the red-clad girl's bag. "Good costume."

"Thawnks!" She spoke with a lisp, her front teeth missing. "I'm Scawlet Dwagon."

He smiled faintly. "That you are."

'Scarlet' tilted her head. "Mister, are you cwying?"

Danny wiped his cheeks. "It's nothing." He tried to smile. "You be good for your mom and dad, okay?"

The girls nodded enthusiastically. As the group turned and ran to the next house, the mini-Miss Militia checked her bag. "I got a Snickers!"

With a smile, Hannah shut the door. She took a moment to look Danny in the eye. "Are you all right?"

He wiped his eyes. "I don't know, Hannah. She's changed the world, but she's just... _lying_ there. I want her to be okay, but this is so much like when she was..."

Carefully, gently, Hannah took the bowl from his hand, setting it on a side table. Then she hugged him. Her voice was soft. "Your daughter's strong, Danny. Like her father. I grew to know Neptune pretty well, and he was always sad. Searching for something. But after she returned, he was... satisfied. He's part of you. A good part of you. He always wanted to help, even when he wasn't quite able to figure out how to do it." She smiled gently. "I know why, now. She'll be okay. It may take a while, but she'll come back. She's too stubborn to quit." Her voice turned amused. "More stubborn than you."

Danny nodded faintly. He wiped his eyes. "That's for damned sure. I'll be okay, Hannah." Hesitantly, he took her hand. She smiled and squeezed his in return.

Together, hand in hand, they went back to the couch. This time, they watched the movie in silence, though curled up together. Gently, she kissed his chin. He laughed softly, then with a little bit of wonder, he kissed her lips in return.

* * *

Neptune and Salacia, out escorting trick-or-treating kids, stopped. They shared a look.

 _Avoid her house?_ Salacia signed.

 _Definitely._ Neptune signed back. _I am not walking in on **that.**_

* * *

 _December 20, 2011_

 _Brockton Bay Arcology_

Vicky soared through the air. Beneath her was a panoramic view of the city, while _just_ above was the edge of the forcefield dome that covered the city. The thick winter coat, snowpants, and thick gloves made things tolerable despite how cold it was. The long, brutal winter was so very rough, and despite how large the arcology was, it still felt somewhat claustrophobic. It was also cold, though the dome made it 'just' unpleasantly cold, as opposed to the deadly cold outside that would have rightly belonged in the worst of an Antarctic winter.

She looked down, at the face of her sister. Amy still held the shape of her 'Amara' form. Red-haired, beautiful as Meridia was, though younger and definitely far more shy. In the winter's cold, even she wore a thick winter coat.

Not that Amy, being a vampire, would be threatened by the cold. There was a certain level of comfort needed. Nobody really liked feeling their eyes freeze in the cold. That was the reason for the goggles.

With a grin, Vicky spoke. "Ready?"

Amy returned the grin. "Ready."

Vicky dropped her.

For a few seconds, Amy tumbled through the air. Then the wings on her back, carefully crafted over the course of months for this specific purpose, boomed out. They caught the air, allowing her to arrest her fall and turn it into a glide. It was hardly graceful, but at least up here there was nothing she could possibly hit.

"Wooohoooo!" She yelled in excitement.

"Sweet!" Vicky yelled alongside her.

* * *

Three hours of impromptu flying later, Amy finally had to call it a night. The sun was going to be up in less than an hour, she could feel that. Perhaps Taylor wasn't aware of it, not the way Amy was, but she could feel it as the night slackened, the sky beginning to lighten above the forcefield dome. The dome itself filtered out a fair bit of the light, but Amy wasn't exactly keen on risking her continued existence on chance.

Together, the Dallon sisters landed at one of the Endbringer shelters. The one closest to the portal to Velnar, the one taken up by several of the castle's demons. With no Endbringers, the ample space within was being converted into living quarters, and while they could only handle a fraction of the people in the conversion, every city had one.

That they were built tough and well-protected from sunlight was a major bonus.

Meridia was there to greet the pair, the black-skinned succubus smiling as the pair entered the simple partitioned room she'd chosen. Granted, it was partitioned with office dividers, but that wasn't much of a problem.

Vicky grinned. "Hey Meridia. How's it going?"

Meridia returned the smile. "I'm quite the popular succubus, thanks to that magazine. I've had a great deal of loving attention. And a few marriage proposals."

Amy sighed, shaking her head with bemusement. "Will you ever change, Meridia?"

She grinned impishly. "I certainly hope not. I am having far too much fun."

Vicky snickered.

Rolling her eyes, Amy spoke with exasperation. "Right, fine. It's time for me to tend to Vicky."

Blinking, Meridia looked between the sisters. Then she nodded as she understood. "Right." She got to her feet and went to the side of the room that held Amy's bunk. The succubus reached underneath the bed and pulled out the small medical cooler that sat there. She presented it to Amy as if it were a precious present.

Amy took it with a smile, opening it. Inside was a lump of raw meat, ghastly to look at. She looked at Vicky. "It's time, Vicky. I'm ready to restore your eye."

Vicky bit her lip. "You sure you can do it right? I don't want to push if you ain't ready, Ames. I've had time to think about this, and..." She gently rubbed the side of her eyepatch. "I kinda took you for granted, before. It wasn't fair to you. I'm glad you're still around, so _very_ glad, but I'm not about to do that again. I know all this is so much harder for you now."

"I appreciate it. I want to do this, Vicky. Now that we actually have the time... and I've been practising, a lot. It's getting easier." Amy sighed, a faint smile on her lips. "I wouldn't want all that practice to go to waste."

Vicky chuckled. "Yeah, well..." Self-consciously, she rubbed the edge of her eyepatch. "It would be nice to have depth perception again. But I don't want to forget what happened. What we went through. Mom's scars are gone, but mine... I'm not explaining very well, am I?"

Amy smiled faintly. "Well enough. Thing is, though? They wanted to hurt people. They wanted to leave scars. The Siberian and Bonesaw hurt way more people than just us. But we shouldn't let them win. Let me do this, let me fix your eye. Let me help my sister the way she was willing to help me when I opened up."

Vicky laughed helplessly. "Alright. You win, Ames. When did you get to be so wise?"

Amy smiled. "Learned it from my sister." As Vicky straightened up with a bit of pride, Amy finished. "I ask myself 'What would Vicky do?' and then do the exact opposite."

"Hey!" Vicky exclaimed, looking scandalised. Then she laughed. "Okay, fine, yuk it up. Get on with it already."

Meridia grinned, stifling her own laughter. "I'll keep watch. This kind of thing is interesting."

Amy took in a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. I'm going to have to knock you out for this... or it'll probably hurt like hell."

"Ready Ames." Vicky smiled. "Long as you are."

* * *

 _January 12, 2012_

Dressed in the rags of her suit, covered in mud, and with hair long, dirty and tangled, Sophia stared down her prey.

The most annoying thing about her situation, after she'd managed to adjust to things by setting up a spike trap in the cave she'd taken as her home, was ensuring she got by. Her stash of antibiotics? More than half used, after taking care of the various scrapes and small injuries she'd accumulated. The non-perishable food? Gone. She still had the cooking supplies, and a bit of ingenuity and know-how let her figure out how to get a fire going. She had a lighter, though that was out of fuel, it was still good enough to spark things with sufficiently dry tinder.

Now? Her main problem was that she lacked an easy way to shoot things. Her crossbow had snapped under the stress of overuse, and she had no way to repair it.

The bolts, though, were still of some use. The heads made for decent spear-points, and when she wasn't busy eating or conserving energy, she was making spears. Ten of them, with the rest of the twenty bolts she had remaining in reserve.

And so it was now she was holding a six foot long spear, staring at an apparently oblivious hadrosaur, a feathered and duck-billed dumbass species that tended to rove in herds. A juvenile, one that was about three feet long and a foot tall. Enough meat to satisfy for a few days, especially if she was careful about cooking and drying the meat. It was busily drinking from a stream, its dull eyes swivelling back and forth, probably more worried about either a swarm of little bastards that looked (and tasted) like chickens, or the big bastards that looked like mutant chickens with _way too many teeth._

Sophia was getting tired of the taste of chicken. Also getting really tired of getting looked at as a meal _by_ chickens.

Momentarily phasing, she chucked the spear in her hand. The spear would fly through the air, and unphase _just_ before it struck flesh. She could already taste the burned meat...

Only her spear unphased and landed about a foot from the target. Her prey looked at the spear, quivering in the dirt, blared out a honk, turned and ran.

"Come back here you little bastard!" Sophia howled, her voice harsh from disuse as she charged forward. She grabbed the spear sticking out of the dirt and gave chase. The little hadrosaur was young, and had a short stride. She could bound off the ground and shadow-phase, saving her energy while giving chase. She could catch it, stab it, bring it back-

or not. The juvenile ran straight into the herd of adult hadrosaurs, which stood at ten feet tall. The little one's blaring and calls of fright had roused the herd, and the whole group, all twenty of them, turned and honked at Sophia. She dropped to the ground, skidded to a stop, and growled to herself as she and the herd traded stares. Twenty sets of eyes staring at the one, lone human, honks and calls blaring threateningly. Large paws smacked the dirt.

Even if she did manage to kill the juvenile, she couldn't bring it with her in her shadow-state without putting it over her shoulders, and the adults wouldn't give her the time she needed to get it there. Even if she killed an adult or two, she had only two spears, and she wouldn't be given the time to harvest any meat. They were too big to get back to the cave, and the scent of blood would attract the larger predators rather easily. It just wasn't worth the trouble.

Stomach growling, tears filling her eyes as she turned around, Sophia withdrew. She struggled to keep in the sobs as she trudged back 'home.' A fucking cave that attracted large-ass spiders and that which she had to constantly fight to evict rats from, when she wasn't eating said rats.

Home.

She'd do anything to be home. To have hot running water. To hear another human voice. To be with somebody else. To be able to open a microwaveable meal, pop it in, and let it cook while she sat in front of a TV set and vegged out. Even being able to sit down and _read_ something as banal and stupid as a Scion's Disciples pamphlet would be a luxury.

This... this _constant_ struggle to survive on her own was wearing her down. One slip, one miscalculation, and the critters she managed to occasionally hunt down would happily feast on her. Nobody around would ever care.

She looked down at the ground, seeing one of the chicken-sized dinosaurs there. It was looking at her, head tilted, and chirped.

Sophia hurled her spear at it. It tried to dodge, but was just a bit too slow. With a keening cry, it writhed and struggled as it bled all over the dirt, impaled upon the spear. Hurrying, Sophia ran up and snapped its neck.

At least she'd have dinner, now. She picked up the corpse, pulling it off the spear, only to stop at hearing another chirp. And another and another. Turning her head, she saw fifty more of the little feathered bastards.

Chirping angrily, they tried to swarm at her. She simply turned shadow and fled. They couldn't smell her like this, couldn't track her. But now she was running from _fucking toothy chickens._ At least she had one for dinner, but she'd still have to go and hunt again tomorrow. They didn't have much meat on them.

If she ever saw Hebert again, she'd stab the bitch right through her face for sending her to this hell. Sophia felt she didn't deserve this.

* * *

 _January 25th, 2012_

Hookwolf watched as the food truck came through the portal.

Placed on the outskirts of the city, near the edge of the forcefield dome protecting it from the outside harsh weather, there were a lot of staging areas to bring food in. Luxury goods, such as chocolate, was a bit rare, though efforts were made to keep producing it.

No, what was important were the canned goods, non-perishables that would last without refrigeration. The Empire was on the move, their members needing to lay low, and that meant leaving as few traces for the Protectorate as possible. Especially now that the kid gloves were off. Some of the Empire members just vanished, either going straight or simply being captured. Others went off the grid, like Alabaster, Fog, and Night. Kaiser, Fenja and Menja disappeared, neither hide nor hair of them being found.

It left Hookwolf in nominal charge. Cricket, Rune, Crusader and Krieg were on site. Victor and Othala were hanging back, prepared with a sniper rifle in case things did not go as expected. They needed food. The unpowered members of the Empire had provided it for them, but they were running out of options when they were being arrested, or outright killed resisting arrest. It wasn't very many, but it had a chilling effect on the gang. Long-sleeves were in fashion, and not simply because of the cold weather.

The food truck passed through the street below. Hookwolf made a gesture.

Rune lifted the dumpster from where she had it stashed, out of sight from the street, and dropped it directly in the path of the truck.

The truck ground to a halt, the woman driver frantically hitting the brakes. Hookwolf himself slammed right into the hood of the truck an instant later, blades emerging and spearing through the window. He tilted the metal head, growling at the wide-eyed blonde.

"Get out." He snarled.

She complied, jumping out of the truck and running off. It meant they had less time before it was called in, but it also meant there would be less heat for the hijacking. Theft of food was less of a priority than the murder of civilians these days. Even if it was a lot of food.

Quickly, the rest of the Empire members started moving. Rune hopped in the passenger side, pulling her hood back and removing her mask. Hookwolf himself finished ripping the glass out, before he slid into the driver's seat and reverted himself to his human form. He reached into his flannel jacket, having been covered by his wolf blades, and slipped on a trucker's hat.

The rest scattered, heading toward downtown. They'd bring the truck into one of the parking garages, empty it as fast as possible, then carry whatever supplies they could manage in ten minutes of unloading. They could manage a lot with a pair of telekinetics. All of it would be loaded into vans and cars, and the gang would go their separate ways. At least until they needed another operation.

Straightforward. Simple. Few things could go wrong. The simplest plans were the best for that very reason.

Hookwolf set the truck in gear, started it down the street. Rune shifted the dumpster out of the way.

Two minutes later, thirty Dragon suits dropped on top of them, one stopping on the hood and pointing a _very_ large cannon right in his face. The same models he'd seen last fighting Scion.

" _Hookwolf, Rune of the Empire 88. We have you surrounded. Stop the vehicle and surrender."_ Pandora's voice echoed.

Rune started swearing. She had a rather impressive vocabulary.

Grimacing, Brad pulled the truck to a stop. This shit wouldn't have happened if Kaiser was here. Where the _fuck_ was he?

* * *

Max Anders sipped from his daiquiri.

Hawaii had been spared most of the impact from Ragnarok. A power outage was about the worst of it, and the islands had been repaired a couple of weeks later. It was also far enough south that the brutal winter ravaging the Northern Hemisphere was only _slightly_ cooler on the islands.

Jessica sat at his left, looking quite stunning in her bikini. She was busily scanning the beach, which had more people than he was comfortable with, but he was still rather safe here. Nessa was on his right, enjoying her own rather fruity concoction.

He wasn't entirely sure what he would do in the future. There wasn't much profit in attempting to run a racial-supremacist gang, not while things were changing. Medhall's stock was up, and it earned him more than enough to retire quietly if he wished. Gesellschaft itself didn't have much of a future, either. Germany was rebuilding in the wake of Ragnarok, and the authorities simply didn't have any patience for a resurgence of the old mistakes.

The world was changing. Adapt or die. And Max made his choice.

Watching the sun set below the clouds, in one of the few American places not sequestered underneath an environment dome, Max knew he made the right choice. Opportunities would come for a more direct form of power, eventually. Maybe not for decades... but he wasn't about to try and get on the bad side of an omnipresent AI or an Endbringer-killing golden Dragon.

He smiled. "Let's get back to the hotel, hm?"

As Jessica and Nessa smiled, his own grew. Yes, _definitely_ the right choice. He could wait.


	105. Epilogue: Foundations part 4

A/N:Welp, new laptop, new weirdness, new annoyances, and new year. Hope everybody had a good time and got home safe. And all that. I am currently trying to find all the nerves in my face.

* * *

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Topic: We're back!

In: Boards ► General Announcements

 **Tin_Mother** (Original Poster) (Moderator)

Posted on January 18, 2012:

Well ladies, gents, and AIs everywhere, we're back online. Internet access has been a lower priority than vital infrastructure, and so it took this long, but it's all coming back. We're rebuilding, so much was lost in the battle with Scion, but we're still here.

It's been a few long hard months. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, the early arrival of winter, atmospheric poisoning in places, and wildfires making things so much more difficult than they ever had to be. Then Nilbog's monsters went out hunting, (don't worry, they're being wiped out as we speak) and we've got so much more to do.

First of all, I want to congratulate everyone for surviving this long and hard winter. Dragon and Pandora (aforementioned AI) have been working very hard to try and keep everyone alive and as comfortable as possible.

Preliminary projections indicate the forcefields surrounding the major cities will be able to drop in early May, though there are places where they will stay up due to local conditions being uninhabitable otherwise. Reclaimation efforts for the land surrounding those cities will go underway the moment the ground thaws.

But there is still hope. Right here is a picture of Dragon and Pandora on the surface of the Moon, using this same technology to build an arcology there. We have a tried-and-true system for colonization almost anywhere.

Now, to prevent derails. Here is the thread for discussing Ragnarok.

Here is the thread discussing the public reveal of Cauldron.

Here is the thread discussing the Scarlet Dragon.

Here is the thread discussing her citizens.

And here is the thread discussing refugees, how to apply if you are one, and need assistance finding shelter.

 **(Showing Page 1 of 98)**

► **AbsurdlyCuteKitty**

Posted on January 19, 2012:

Alright, still alive and kicking myself and I would love to hear of others who managed that.

Anyone any specific knowledge about how much really went downhill and/or got smashed appart?

I am really happy to be still alive and able to write this stuff, but... how long will it take for normal seasons to come back? I really like spring and summer...

► PaulPoutine (Ottawa Arcology)

Posted on January 19, 2012:

I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords!

The Internet is back, PHO is back, there are Velnar residents on Protectorate teams, there is an honest-to-goodness succubus on a Playboy foldout, the only way this would all be better is if we didn't have to live under domes to survive nuclear winter.

(I know it's not really nuclear, but the effect's the same)

► **Worldsoul**

Posted on January 19, 2012:

AbsurdlyCuteKitty, I heard that Germany was just blown up, there's a scar reaching the Mantle through Europe, and most of the Indian Subcontinent is underwater. Colombia is also supposedly de-forested now. Mildly deforested. Venezuela's got it worse, weirdly enough.

► **Living_Stones**

Posted on January 19, 2012:

Oh thank the gods I have a connection again now can somebody PLEASE COME AND GET ME!

It's cold out here

Seriously, I would like a pick up though, I'm in what remains of northern Russia, I think, far northern Russia that is, but I can and will walk it if I must, it's not like the environment affects me much.

I'm also lucky to even still be alive out here, got hit be that golden bastard at one point and had to detach about half of myself to survive. I am going to miss my legs...

► **OnlySaneMan**

Posted on January 19, 2012:

Re: Living_Stones

If you're all the way up there, how do you even have internet? Running it off a sat-phone? Channeling it through your antennae?

► **Living_Stones**

Posted on January 20, 2012:

Screw you, I don't have antennae, I have an antenna sticking out of the top of my head! I just don't want to walk a couple thousand miles when I have no bloody clue which way is which!

► **OnlySaneMan**

Posted on January 20, 2012:

If you have no legs, how are you walking?

► **TheDuggler**

Posted on January 20, 2012:

That's enough, you two. Take it to PMs.

Living_Stones, stop trolling. Northern Russia and southern California aren't the same thing. I normally wouldn't bring up your location, but you have it on your profile right now. You're probably warmer than most people.

► **Gryphon Le'Rouge** (Edmonton Arcology)

Posted on January 20, 2012:

BC and Alberta went up in smoke harder than normal. So we had to stay inside our homes for a bit and the winter was brutal on food prices. But as usual Canada is the sideshow to the rest of the world. I am curious how the Rezzes have managed.

► **F.F. Snow** (Verified Cape) (Verified Snowman) (Verified C53) (*Temporarily* New York Arcology)

Posted on January 23, 2012:

Taking some downtime between 'Blizzard Patrols', thought I'd check now that the forum's back.

Not sure about the global scale, but I've been finding it easier to break up the cold fronts and ice storms I wander into along the NA east coast, so I think the climate's starting to settle down some. If only from 'actively apocalyptic' to 'post-apocalyptic'.

And the snow is...well, not so much 'cleaner' as 'less horrible', but still an improvement, however small.

On another note, I've been looking at the Cauldron reveal, which is pretty fucking mindblowing. Anyone other Case-53's know if we're going to find out who and where we used to be anytime soon? I thought I'd come to terms with never knowing, but now that there's actually a chance they might tell us, it's really starting to upset occupy my focus.

 **End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 96 , 97, 98**

 **(Showing Page 2 of 98)**

► **Weld** (Case 53)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Don't know enough yet. They're still getting details from Alexandria.

I don't know about you, but I sure feel betrayed. She ran the PRT. They _told_ us to our faces that they didn't know what happened to us. But then they assigned us identities, used our confusion against us, and signed us up for a war that they SAY we volunteered for.

Worst part is, we can't even tell if she's still lying to us. Cauldron's leader is MIA. I'm pissed off. I'm pissed that even SD and the Velnar people allied with Cauldron. I'm pissed that I've been lied to. I'm pissed that even with all the shit that's happened to me and all the other C53s I know, that considering what the fuck happened back there, I can STILL see their point.

Right now, though? Fuck the PRT, fuck the Protectorate, and fuck everything else. I'm not going to work for those people. Even if they clean house completely, I'm done.

So are a whole lot of my friends. I'm done here.

► **ArmedCadence** (Everett Arcology)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

A few random thoughts first before I dig into the actual topic...

1\. Any bets on who's going to get banned first now that we're back up? (I kid, oh glorious and (un)merciful mods, I kid!)

2\. Has anyone mentioned to Regent Meridia that D&D, specifically Wizards of the Coast in general, are still begging her for an interview of their own to see if they can get ideas for a 7th Edition? Because I've already seen some unofficial concept art of their 'new' versions of what a Drow AND Succubi look like. One one hand, wowzas. On the other hand, I can already hear the sounds of a million teenaged boy's mothers gnashing their teeth at the 'potential' for lewdness.

3\. Does anyone else up in the lovely, no-longer-rainy, Pacific Northwest actually MISS the rain? These forcefield domes are a godsend - and considering where they're from, that isn't hyperbole - but I'd kill for some rain now. If I wanted to stay dry, I'd have moved to Arizona. That being said, if you like snowboarding, you have to see the Cascades to believe it. Even with the respirator restrictions in place, the queue to get up Mt. Baker's ski-lifts is insane. Remind me to post a few shots of some of those ice crystal 'naiads' that decided to move from Velnar who helped open up the passes to get across. Err, once I, umm, add a bit of censoring over certain bits. Seriously, is there like a taboo about wearing clothing in Velnar or something?

And to get to the actual topic of Ragnarok:

Suck it Thor, Odin, Loki, Surtr, and the rest of you Norse Gods and Giants. The Ragnarok Scarlet Dragon and the rest of us went through? She could take you all on, win, and be home in time for breakfast of a bowl of Count Chocula. Your 'death of the gods' had a nice fire and a bit of glacial melt going on, and something about a big tree. Out here? We had a 30 foot tsunami wave come roaring up the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which literally wiped away half of Whidbey Island and all of Orcas Island (aerial pics of both islands, before, and after, here). At the time I was up north of Everett/Seattle and watched as those waves smothered Bellingham entirely. And we're one of the regions that got 'lucky'. Note, that is even after accounting for the fact both Rainier and St. Helens blew their tops within days of each other last month.

And not to toot my own ideas too much, but anyone that wants to discuss possible thermal borehole possibilities about France & the St. Helen's caldera, I've started a thread on the topic. (edit: gah, forgot my manners, its been so long since PHO was up, I was thinking with another forum's customs. link removed)

► **xX_VoidCowboy_Xx** (Banned)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

[User has been banned for this post. That combination is weird, obscene, and against the TOS. Enjoy your two weeks. -TinMother]

► **GARcher** (The Guy Not in the Know)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Okay. I am never going to look at bats, llamas, apple pies, succubi, or garden hoses again the same way. Did anybody not see that coming?

By the way, check this out. My little sister has an autograph from Paladin! She's... going a bit nuts over it, actually. Also, they're selling red and gold dragon plushies. They're selling pretty fast. Lil' sis has been recreating the end of the Battle of Swansea with a Leviathan miniature with hers.

Uh... should I be worried?

► **OnlySaneMan**

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Don't think so. Young kids do that kind of thing.

► **GARcher** (The Guy Not in the Know)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

She's nineteen.

► **OnlySaneMan**

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Still nothing wrong with it. *looks at collection of SD memorabilia* Seriously. Just be glad we _can_ fan over anything.

► **Ze Bri-0n** (The Guy in the Know)

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Never though we'd live in a world without Scion... and be happy about it.

Also, holy crap guys, Dracul solo'd one of Scion's kind. How much of a badass was this guy? Sure both he and the planet he fought it on are gone, _but so is it._

► **ReelVein**

Posted on January 24, 2012:

Humanity

Carbon-based Life-forms

Corporals

Entities

 **Existence, FUCK YEAH!**

Anyone got a good word for Gods, Humans, Undead, Spirits, Mythical creatures, etc as a whole?

► **Fencing_Guy** (New York Arcology)

Posted on January 27, 2012:

ReelVein Scary? Awesome? Scawesome?

Edit: Dangit, reading comprehension fail. Hmmm… I'd suggest "people of Earth," but that's a bit of a mouthful.

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► **RioVenaFeht**

Posted on January 27, 2012:

Right now? Head down to the local library and crack open a book. Local preachers have been going nuts on the street corners recently, trying to save our souls I guess.

Anyone else hearing more preaching than normal?

► **King Crom**

Posted on January 27, 2012:

We made it out, still glad it missed us mostly. Still saw some of the waves here in Perth but still had the advantage of large amounts of land between us and the end of the world. My best wishes to the people of Europe and South America.

► **MrSandman** (Verified Cape) (Protectorate SWS) (Albuquerque Arcology)

Posted on January 28, 2012:

Wait, Dragon's an AI?

Huh. Well, much friendlier than the last person to claim being an AI and tried to launch a cyber attack here in Albuquerque.

Also, probably much neater.

Now, she MAY be an AI or not, but I'd like to see some proof before jumping the guny like my boss did. When we dragged the supposed AI out of his house in his boxers, the look on the boss's face was glorious.

As somebody involved with the cleanup in Europe awhile back, its good to see the weather is beginning to settle down a bit. Hopefully, we'll be able to clean up more of Europe and get the worst of it re-habitable within a couple of years.

In other news, it is outright WEIRD to see such a massive barrier over a whole damn mountain range. The thing covers even Cedar Crest and Bernalillo. Thanks to that decision, though, we have a LOT of room for refugees from across the whole state, so...thats good!

Arson is now punishable by over twenty years in prison now, though...

► **Jazzhands** (New Orleans Protectorate)

Posted on January 29, 2012:

Hey, I remember that guy. I'll give him credit for a nice setup, but take that credit right back for being a nitwit. Seriously, a computer tinker who spent his whole life pretending to be an AI in order to go and fix his parking tickets?

All he needed to do was get out of the house and pay fifty bucks, but apparently that was too much work.

Anyway, apparently Dragon WAS an AI, but she's now able to turn into an actual dragon of awesome. Which is weirdly appropriate. as well as... well, huh.

Does this mean AIs have souls? Well, there's a thread for that now. Makes you wonder if an AI can become a 'god' what else could?

► **DegreelessNess** (San Francisco Arcology)

Posted on January 29, 2012:

So, a thing is happening. There's talk about building, well, temples, for lack of a better word. Having decided to pledge myself to the Lady of Fire, (she who burned Ellisburg to the ground... hot damn. Ha! Made a pun!) I was wondering if there was some sort of official mechanism for applying for these things?

I mean, the worship, not the temple. That part I can look up on my own. I mean, rituals, chants, preferred offerings?

► **Lazy_Storm**

Posted on January 29, 2012:

I think that's because of the old saying 'There are no aethists in foxholes'. And considering what our world has been through, I'd say we've earned a religious uptick.

Though I have noticed alot of them are less about..ya know..the Judeo-Christian God and more along the lines of the ones that were around kicking ass during Ragnarok. Personally I know afew people that've converted, and even more that are talking about actual churches to the new divinities. I'd consider it skeevy somehow...if I wasn't going later today to hear them talk. May have a new convert here.

If I find out any prayers, offerings, etc, want me to PM you?

► **Boojum** (Shoalhaven Agricultural Arcology Complex)

Posted on January 29, 2012:

Glad to see we're back online!

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that Australia is still very open for business on the refugee front. As you might know, there was basically no combat on our tectonic plate during Ragnarok and we've come through almost entirely intact. Even the tidal waves from the Indian Ocean were mostly absorbed by Myanmar and Indonesia - the survivors of which are now generally resident in arcologies on this continent. We've been called the lucky country in the past, and it certainly has proven true. The main weird thing has been the rest of the world suddenly becoming more dangerous to live in than here.

Pandora gave us the template for the force-field domes, but they are difficult to power and simply not efficient enough when used to cover regular farmland. The agricultural arcologies, or agarcs, solved that problem, and if you come over here as a refugee you'll probably be involved in either building them or running them. Our relatively disease-free agricultural sector made for excellent seed-stock, and we've been building them as fast as we can, both for local use and export. They're mostly running freshwater aquaculture setups, but here in SAAC we've got an experimental low-moisture system running goats and dryland cropping, a group attempting to breed dwarf dairy cattle and a seawater prototype that's going into full scale production next week. That last one can be installed in a salt swamp, or even off the coast, and grows fish, bivalves, seaweed and two new breeds of halophilic maize. We're hoping it will do well in the tsunami affected regions.

Of course none of this would be at all useful without the shadow-gate network. Gremlin-wrangling is the newest marketable skill, as you never, ever, leave them unsupervised. The great Goat Cavalry Stampede has already entered into legend (video here), and we still haven't figured out how they turned a greywater filtration unit into a flamethrower.

If you're in the area, PM me and we can meet up. The official decision to restart beer production was made yesterday (if get hold of the drongo who deemed it "non-essential" we will have words) and I'll put a bottle in the fridge and a barra on the barbie.

► **King Crom**

Posted on January 30, 2012:

As an agnostic I was personally always open to convincing, probably won't pray to them but am very glad they stopped this Ragnarok going the way of the last one. That supposedly wiped out most of Humanity.

► **Bonegnasher** (Velnar Citizen)

Posted on January 30, 2012:

Nonono! Not going back there! Spiders bigger than Bonegnasher! Not going back without my flame!

► **Boojum** (Shoalhaven Agricultural Arcology Complex)

Posted on January 30, 2012:

Hey now, they're harmless. They just want to say hello. Probably wondering what the heck you are too.

► **Bonegnasher** (Velnar Citizen)

Posted on January 30, 2012:

SPIDERS!

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► **Miri** (New Orleans Arcology)

Posted on January 31, 2012:

Well, most of the levee's held so only the most outlying parts of the city flooded. However most of the surrounding Mississippi delta got washed away so we have gone from a city at the bend of the river to.. an island. There seems to be yet another push to rename the city New Atlantis and its looking like it will pass this time.

► **Jazzhands** (New Orleans Protectorate)

Posted on January 31, 2012:

Nah, things will be fine there. They'll fill that right back in. Already heard the city's looking into buying up a whole (lots of) ton(s) of gravel. It'll probably be a while before it's fixed, but it'll be kinda like that artificial island off in Lake Ontario with that theme park. Least until some idiot blew it up.

► **Redhawk** (Banned)

Posted on January 31, 2012:

You all are wrong! Didn't you read that interview with the demoness? They are the reapers, and murdered the Scion to bring down mankind! Fools! They are flourizating the water of the arcologies! Do not trust the Water!

ShiftingSandLand said: ↑

Wait, Dragon's an AI?

No you ignorant fool! Dragon is a demon, the AI is Pandora. Probably our only hope now that we are ruled by real DEAMONS!

... I wonder what would be worse, AI overlords or this...

[User has recieved an infraction for this post. Personal attacks are against the Terms of Service. Editing to make your post less offensive does not change this.- **TinMother** ]

► **King Crom**

Posted on January 31, 2012:

Calm down, mankind survives because of them. Do you want us dead. Scion was out to KILL us. He started this fight.

► **Redhawk** (Banned)

Posted on January 31, 2012:

But that's the government's story! The official story! Who believes the official story?

I know my theory about Hero being abducted by aliens is not well received by I stand by it!

Now I'm sure those space stations are going to build are going to include mass brainwashing! Or worse!

► **Fencing_Guy** (New York Arcology)

Posted on January 31, 2012:

And of course, the frothing-at-the-mouth ones survived armageddon. Yay.

► **King Crom**

Posted on February 1, 2012:

Okay. You are clearly crazy and thus no logical argument will convince you. I am thus going to be glad you are nowhere near me and be grateful to the gods for this. Maybe they didn't cause it but still my gratitude.

► **Ze Bri-On**

Posted on February 1, 2012:

I'm probably going to regret asking, but, what's worse than mass brainwashing?

► **Fencing_Guy** (New York Arcology)

Posted on February 1, 2012:

*looks at the broken remains of Europe*

► **Redhawk** (Banned)

Posted on February 2, 2012:

[This user has been banned for this post. Seriously, I don't even. *hammerslam*- **TinMother** ]

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► **King Crom**

Posted on February 2, 2012:

Okay, so glad they're gone. Maybe now we can actually discuss things that are rational, like the fact the world nearly ended.

► **Palarhe** (Madrid Arcology)

Posted on February 2, 2012:

Send that guy our way, I'm sure someone will know how to show their appreciation for their ravings. The Pirineos blocked most of the French smoke breath but our North-West coast is devastated (Asturias and the Basque Country had to be evacuated and Galicia will have a hard time recovering), and anywhere else not in the center is turning into Ashtma Central. And don't even ask the Portuguese, they got some delightful surplus of sea water on their streets to mix with their share of ash.

Edit: Oh, they got the banhammer, guess I'm late.

► **Fencing_Guy** (New York Arcology)

Posted on February 3, 2012:

Moving on… the original post mentioned something about Nilbog's stuff getting loose? I really hope whoever's dealing with that doesn't miss any. We've already got enough insanity to deal with.

► **Sgt Jones** (PRT Agent)

Posted on February 3, 2012:

The Guild and the Protectorate are working to handle Nilbog's spawn. We have a dedicated tracker and the appropriate Thinkers to deal with the problem. They're being hemmed in and destroyed one after another.

► **Robot_Raven** (Houston Arcology)

Posted on February 3, 2012:

redhawk: Dude, lay off the Scott Wilkins crazy-dude. The fact he was finally committed after proclaiming that Ragnarok was a false flag hoax should tell you something.

Still, moving on from Void_Cowboy's equally insane counterpart, do have some updates from Houston. Thanks to Apostle/Formerly Known as Eilodon and help from Brockton Bay Cape Neptune we managed to rechannel the San Jacento River before it flooded from increased snow runnoff. I had always joked about a hard snowfall in Houston would be a sign of the Apocalypse, but I never thought the universe would go "Challenge Accepted!". Still, after nearly having a worse repeat of TS Allison's flooding and the restraints of the dome around Harris County, I think the city may reverse it's long standing aversion to zoning laws.

In related news the Houston Chronicle just published a pretty lengthy interview with Apostle, or rather David Harris after he unmasked.

Link here.

Besides the obvious bits about Cauldron and the New Gods, the big surprise was his response to a question about paying the price for his time with Cauldron. He admitted that after he finishes freeing the remaining Gods, he would surrender much like how Alexandra/Rebecca Costa-Brown did to President Sears and AG Mc'Donall.

To say that opinions are divided is putting it lightly. Some are calling for some leanicy and for Apostle to continue his "Life Sentence of Community Service." Others are calling for the book to be thrown at Apostle to show that even the Gods' representative is not above the law. Some are actually calling for outright execution. And don't get me started about what the Old Faiths community is saying...

Edit:

Oh holy hell... Everyone check the news now!

Some lunatic just shouted "For Scion!" and blew himself up outside of City Hall during a speech by Mayor White! Casualties are still pouring into Memorial Herrman and Methodist, including kids.

► **Korg** (Velnar Citizen)

Posted on February 3, 2012:

Hey. My name's Korg. I'm made of rocks. Not like a bunch of little rocks though, more like one big solid rock, which is shaped vaguely like a bat.

I'm moving into this new settlement thingy they opened for us in Canada. It's nice. Lot's of good buildings to sit motionless on over here.

► **Fencing_Guy** (New York Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

You wouldn't happen to have a cousin named Goliath, would you?

► **Dlan** (Verified Cape)(Red Gauntlet)(Kitezh Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Hah, you call this winter? We had worse winters when I was child.

Because not enough generators were available to Russia, we made our own!

The Kitezhgrad Institute has been converted into an arcology of its own, as the most protected non-military zone in Russia and accepts refugees from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and nearby Russian regions without resource base to sustain their own shield domes.

Case 53s welcome, as our Institute performed "cape" research along "Tinkertech" development. We are looking into rapid-deployment arable land conversion technology to provide foodstuffs without relying on sunlight. Any specialists with relevant skills are welcome.

If we could gain access to supernatural portal, we also provide "Tinkertech" for trade.

► **PsycThesis**

Posted on February 4, 2012:

A Moment of silence for all lives lost to this maniac's delusions...

Well, now that that's done, anyone have ideas on if their is going to be a Memorial Day type thing for Ragnaroxk? Could be a nice way to remember everything and never forget.

► **UnderSeaWings**

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Oh, sweet. I'll have to see if I can't get some time off work to see if I can't drive over and drop off some welcome muffins. Welcome to Canada, mate. Hope you enjoy. If you visit Toronto sometime I think the CN Tower is still intact enough to provide a really nice ledge and an amazing view.

► **Lazy_Storm** (Austin Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Holy shit! Me and a bunch of volunteers are gonna come down with food and medical supplies.

A lot of the God supporters are coming too, so it's turned into a rolling sermon. I will pray for all the souls involved in this barbarism, except that damn Scion nut. I hope SOME deity or demon or whatever is using his soul for floss.

EDIT: Welcome to the world, Korg! I hope you're seeing better parts of humanity then what are doing shot today.

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► **Heehaw**

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Speaking of S-Class threats, does anyone know the status of the remaining S-Class threats?

There are rumours about Fire and Brimstone at Ellisburg but what about Sleeper or Ash Beast?

Or what about the C.U.I or the warlords in Africa?

► **ReelVein**

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Fencing_Guy I considered Earthlings but that Playboy interview said something about a Shadow Plane and with Dragon and Pandora on the moon, "Earth" would be inaccurate.

Nice thing about the new gods, We could just ask them about worship.

Greetings Dragon,

Spoiler: Titles

Goddess of Light, The Golden Dragon, The Lightbringer, The First Dragon, The Herokiller Killer, One of The Two Sisters, The Daystar, Leader of the Paladins, She Who Harnessed the Sun

Do you have any preferred forms of worship?

Since Scarlet Dragon

Spoiler: Titles

Goddess of Darkness, The Scarlet Dragon, The Queen of The Night, Lady of the Dark Plane, The Hopekiller killer, One of The Two Sisters, The Impaler, The Bringer Of Shadows, The Strongest Invincible Vampire

is recovering.

Hello Meridia. Does SD have any preference? And would you be willing to help ask the other Gods?

► **Robot_Raven** (Houston Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Thanks for the thoughts and support. Even with the Shadow Portals, the extra med supplies will help in extending some of the Texas Medical Center's supplies. From reports, it looks like the bomber used a kluged together tinker-tech bomb vest, making treatment a bit more labor intensive. At least it wasn't a knockoff of the Brockton Bomber's devices.

Unfortunately, I think things are going to get worse, particularly in most of the States comprising the Bible Belt. Numerous Mega-Church preachers made plenty of bank on making Scion an Angel of God and now I bet a lot of their collection plates are drying up, and what funds they do have are going to cleaning up near daily vandalism. Not to mention the other pre-Ragnarok faiths are seeing a nosedive in parishioners. While I haven't heard anything out of the Vatican, some of the usual Religious Right groups are pretty vocal. Remember back to that shit storm around LGBT rights after Legend came out and the SCOTUS ruling 7-2 that gay marriage was protected by the 14th Amendment back at the turn of the century? Well, this is even worse.

► **Lazy_Storm** (Austin Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Hey guys, I just had a question that will probably keep me up the rest of my life.

We know that Gods are real. Actual factual gods. We also know that they were locked away by Scion and the other one. These are things that we know.

By this logic we can assume that the local Gods, the Judeo-Christian one and many other pantheons, are possibly all real as well.

My question is this:

Did Scion do any to OUR local gods? Are they destroyed, or imprisoned, or not even fully formed yet?

Excuse me while i have a small crises of faith and sanity.

► **MrSandman** (Verified Cape) (Protectorate SWS) (Albuquerque Arcology)

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Re:Robot_Raven

Us at Albuquerque pray for those lost...

Looks like my team is going to be investigating the more radical religious groups that have popped up, if only to assure that they dont have any major weaponry. Thankfully, people here try to be levelheaded, so we arent expecting any trouble.

► **TheFerryman**

Posted on February 4, 2012:

Huh, this is back. Cool.

Very happy to be alive (and happy I was wrong about needing to find a new planet if Scion snapped), and to see how many others survived. Rather too many died, but far less than I honestly expected if this scenario came to pass.

I'm not sure if it will matter, but Scarlet Dragon, I am among those praying for your swift recovery.

EDIT: *sees Robot_Raven's post; sighs* ... and humanity goes right back to disappointing me. Ugh. My condolences to the families of those lost to that idiot.

► **Meridia** (Velnar Citizen)

Posted on February 5, 2012:

At the moment, the Lady of Darkness rests. The battle with Scion took much out of her, and while she is a goddess, she still has limits. Her power still rests with her, and she is healing, however it is not easy to guess when she may be on her feet.

I am unsure of what may have occurred to the local gods, if they ever existed. Although from my point of view, you people have strange ideas about gods. Gods are enhanced mortals, greater than they, but rarely immensely so without a great deal of time and effort to hone themselves. Gods do not form worlds on their own, they are granted the power to make and shape, but if there be one that created all things, I am unaware of such.

Upon the Old World, there was one who claimed to be the Maker, who spun the cosmos from nothingness, and who shaped everything to his desire. Solin, the former Lord of Light. He forged his church upon a lie, and with his followers he was unable to be attacked. But Solin was once a man, as were all the rest. Perhaps he had forgotten his original self, or perhaps he denied it in his fear of death. I know not his thoughts.

A history of the Old World is being compiled here. Most of Castlevania's libraries were destroyed in Scion's attack, and thus few actual resources remain. Those of us that can remember are rewriting what we can... although our memories are imperfect, and so much will remain lost in any case. More remains intact from what Solin left behind in Lady Dragon's library, but it is still a mere fraction of what was destroyed.

In any case, it is up to us to forge our future. Your future and our own. Perhaps something of wonder can be forged from the ruins of both our worlds.

► **ScarletFan**

Posted on February 5, 2012:

So when can we expect Scarlet to be back on her feet?

► **Meridia** (Velnar Citizen)

Posted on February 5, 2012:

Unfortunately, I do not know. None have strained themselves as she did before. She shall recover, but when is not easy to guess. Physically she is well. I suspect she will be fine once she rests.

► **OnlySaneMan**

Posted on February 5, 2012:

Well, considering what happened? I hope she recovers. She helped change our world, gave us back hope after decades of having it crushed out of us. I'm pretty sure we all want her back. Except the maniacs.

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* * *

 _March 3, 2012_

 _Pleasanton, Texas_

 _Yeah, maniacs._ Lisa thought bitterly as she shut off her phone.

A decent computer system was difficult to find these days. Stolen ones were more common. But phones? Phones were being churned out by the thousand, and were being used to help reconnect places worldwide. More elaborate devices still had a market, and people were clamoring to have them back, but a phone was a downright necessity.

She looked up as the PRT Lieutenant, the name _Snow_ on the front of her vest, exited the barn door and gave Lisa a nod. "They're ready for you."

Swallowing, Lisa got to her feet and went in. What greeted her was a scene of carnage. In the center of the barn was an emaciated figure chained to a rack, the body acid-burned beyond recognition. Around him were five other corpses, all likewise seared beyond recognition. It was nearly impossible to tell whether they were men or women.

Given the circumstances, it didn't really matter. The implements that lay on the ground showed that these people were barely human to begin with. Blades, hammers, bloody bones, a rusty blood-stained scythe, and an iron maiden littered the barn. In the stables, where horses might have lived once, were more bodies, each showing the same kind of horrific treatment.

Pandora, at least, one of her many suits, stood next to the door frame. Her voice was quiet. "Third one we've found so far. Isolated locations, small communities. A group dead around a body, while others were found nearby."

Lisa grimaced and nodded. She pointed at the first charred body. "The leader of this chapter. He was grabbing homeless kids off the street. We're not too far from San Antonio, odds are pretty good that's where they came from. More likely, as San Antonio didn't need a dome. Getting in and out wouldn't be hard."

Pandora nodded. "My analysis as well."

Lisa sucked in a breath, closing her eyes. Somehow, the stench in the barn made it worse. "These guys know what's going on. Some of the new triggers screw up, one in four or five. The new powers go out of control, no Manton Effect keeping them in check. At least, not at first." She opened her eyes and gestured to the corpse on the rack. "This was the first kid they found with the potential to trigger. He did, his power burned him, then it jumped to the next one. Then the next, then the next..." She looked at the bodies of the perpetrators. "Refining itself each time. The power kept going, until it got to her." She pointed at the one body at the end. "She managed to keep it under control."

Snow's voice was dubious. "Then why is she dead?"

Lisa made a gesture. Pandora carefully shifted the body over, showing a hole deep in the woman's back.

Lisa's voice was quiet. "Because the last fanatic here wanted it more. From the footprints, he was standing behind. From the angle, it was a male. Men tend to stab from above, women straight in or below. Then he sprayed acid at the body to try and make it look like the rest. My guess is we're looking at Scionites, but the Gesellschaft did the same kind of thing. The Fallen would do this too. Hell, give it a bit more time, and I can think of a few PRT directors that would pull the same thing if they could guarantee a loyal powered soldier."

Snow grimaced and nodded.

Pandora's voice was firm. "I suppose I have more work to do, then."

Lisa nodded with a sigh. This was much better than working for Coil, but a consulting gig still sucked sometimes.

Especially since some people were bastards.

* * *

Madison stepped to the front of the briefing room.

It felt weird to be in front of a group of twenty year olds, to teach people older than her what she knew. Still more so with her helmet on, the upper portion of her face hidden. She wasn't simply a teenager here, she was a Ward, a hero, and successor to the line of Belmonts.

This was simple enough.

Clearing her throat, she picked up the piece of chalk and wrote on the board.

 _Magic 101_

"The thirty of you are here because you've signed up for the PRT." Madison spoke, feeling the light within her heart pulse warmly. "You're here because each of you want to make a difference. You're here because you want to help change the world."

She moved to the desk, on which were stacks of amulets she and Dragon had made. "You may be familiar with these. They're used to heal people, anywhere from small scrapes to cancerous lesions. With time and treatment, they can handle just about anything short of dismemberment or death. Who here has used one already?"

A trooper in the front, _Jenkins_ on his nameplate nodded. "Took a month, but they regrew the tendons in my legs after one of Nilbog's critters gnawed on me when I was part of one the sweeps."

Madison nodded. "They're good for that. Now, magical theory isn't all that easy. It can take decades for a dedicated mage to be trained." She folded her fingers. "The first thing to understand is that magic is energy. It permeates everything, it's around everywhere. Nobody knows why it's there, exactly, and from my guess... it actually wasn't here in our universe a couple hundred years ago. But it _was_ on what the Velnarians call the Old World.

"Magic doesn't do much on its own. It's just there, raw potential. Before it can affect anything, it needs to be concentrated and refined. A mage is capable of doing so in many ways. Fire, ice, healing, destruction. It's capable of all these things. The capes that fought against Behemoth and Leviathan used magic that was channeled through and made by Scarlet Dragon, and yes, Dragon. She attained the power of Light." She held up the drained amulet. "Now I don't have the time to teach you how to use things as a proper mage. Truth be told I don't know either, but there's someone who does know. I believe Alucard is gearing up to teach more refined magical theory. What I'm going to teach you is how to channel magic into artifacts, and use _them_ as I do. It's nowhere near as flexible as a proper mage, but weapons and artifacts can be used much more easily than a sorcerer or wizard could be trained. A year or two to be able to craft things of your own, as opposed to decades to throwing your own fireballs."

She started passing out drained amulets. "Our first task will be for teaching you how to channel magic on your own. Once you know how to grasp it, to hold it, you'll be able to send it into objects and charge them up. Once there, it can be refined. We're going to need all the manpower we can to handle things in the future."

* * *

" _Are you aware of the risks?"_

 _The young man in the chair snorted, his missing hair and frail frame nearly trembling in the cold of the room. "Any riskier than living with an inoperable brain tumor?"_

" _Mutation is a possibility. Should that happen, we will ensure you are found and taken care of. Death is also possible, but less so. But there is a chance you may heal and gain great power." Doctor Mother spoke. "I won't pretend this is risk-free, but this is the last chance you have to back out."_

 _He nodded. A dark-skinned woman handed him a vial. He opened it, took a deep breath, then swallowed the blood-red liquid inside._

 _A moment passed, then another. His eyes widened, then he screamed. His skin rippled, then burst apart, flesh and exposed bone rippling and tearing. Flesh erupted as the man turned into a writhing, twisting mass. Somehow, he was still screaming._

"Pause."

The video froze.

Rebecca looked at the congressional hearing, sitting across from her. "This man was one of hundreds. Today he works in Dallas, and his career over the last ten years as a Case 53 has saved hundreds of lives. You know him as Attune. What you just witnessed was what we called a Deviation. When a formula was unstable, it did something like this. Deviations were unstable, they'd mutate and _continue_ to mutate. We only found one process that would stop the mutations and would stabilize the afflicted."

Congressman Burns, a heavyset man in his late fifties, leaned forward and spoke into the microphone. "This Slug, another Case 53?"

Rebecca nodded. "Correct. Wiping the memory of the afflicted with Slug's power, then dosing them with another batch, which we labeled stabilization agent, was the only way we had to even attempt to fix the issue, other than outright execution. All formulas had some stabilization agent, but it took a lot of trial and error to discover just what led to stable powers. Deviations still occurred now and again, but they became much more rare as our techniques improved." She took a moment to breathe, licked her lips. "I won't say they're not victims. We took the desperate and the needy and dangled hope in front of them. We did what we could to make sure they would be found somewhere where help would arrive. A slightly different formula, and I, myself, would have been one of them. We were preparing for the day Scion went mad. I don't believe I can stress how desperate we were."

Burns nodded, a look of distaste on his face. "Can you shed light upon the Endbringers?"

Rebecca sighed. "From what we've managed to figure out, the Endbringers were gods taken by one of Scion's species. Dracul killed that one, but Scion and his counterpart found them in the aftermath. Behemoth, Leviathan and the Simurgh were helpless, controlled by the apparatus that enslaved them. The Simurgh was freed on death, and Ariel is held voluntarily on an isolated Earth. The other two passed on when slain. Apparently the experience of being an Endbringer is torturous. Normally a freed god is like Chronos, who is currently aiding our rebuilding efforts, or Alaura, who is working on the winter conditions. Scarlet, as Lady of Darkness, and Dragon, who is the Lady of Light, are apparently a step above them. But an Endbringer is still a step beyond _that_. Without assistance, _our_ assistance, they couldn't have stopped Behemoth and Leviathan."

"Where is the Simurgh now?"

* * *

Ariel twirled the rose between her fingers.

Centuries of pain. Torturous, unending pain. Now that it was over, now that the future was open and uncertain... she had few options. There was a shining future, an open future available. One she managed to tease out, barely, with her mantle limited in this alien universe. But it was clear, regardless.

That future had no place for her in it.

Humanity would never trust her. Never leave her be. Never be willing to let it go. For twenty years, the Endbringers tore down humanity's hopes and dreams. For nearly a decade the Simurgh drove people mad, targeted those who had the best chance at helping the world. Herokiller, Landkiller...

And Hopekiller.

It was the last one that she hated most. As Ariel, Lady of Fate, she had brought hope to those who needed it, those who sought answers to the future. A way to tweak the threads of their fate to bring about a beautiful song.

Solin had broken her power, broken her reach and influence. Turned her into a frail thing, unable to see more than a single person at a time. Still, she had managed, made sure she made plans to help bring the corrupt Lord of Light down... but not fast enough. Not good enough to save her world. Here, in this strange multiverse, there was so little she could see of the future, anyway. It would never get better. Not for her. Like this rose, once plucked from its place on the bush, at best it would stay intact for a time... but inevitably it would crumble and fall apart.

Perhaps that was why Ifrit and Lotan had moved on, preferring to stay dead when they had been slain. They knew they would never be accepted. Never more than tolerated again. It likely didn't help having suffered the same way, the trauma of it all. Being helpless, watching, as lives were taken enmasse by their powers. The temptation to forget it all must have been overwhelming.

She looked up as a flash of light heralded the arrival of David and the Travelers. Krouse, Noelle, Marissa, Jess, Luke and Oliver gathered together in the distance. They shared shouts of joy, the group smiling and laughing as they looked at Noelle, and Noelle took great joy in hugging each of them in turn.

David strode over to Ariel, a small smile on his face.

Ariel returned it, ducking her head. "It's good they're together again."

David nodded. "I'll work on retrieving Cody. The CUI are moving, but I'll have an opportunity soon. He can't go back to Aleph with them, but he could be signed up for the Guardians on their side. Now that parahuman numbers there are getting high enough for official work to be involved."

Ariel sighed. This multiverse was so _confusing._ Threads weaved in and out, cross-tangling and thrumming with each other. She just wasn't equipped to handle it.

David gently tilted her head up, his voice quiet. "You know you've got options."

She smiled at him and shook her head. "Yes. But few of them good. I won't ever be accepted by anyone. Not for centuries at least. My best option would be to leave for a world without any contact with Earth Bet... but that does not fix the larger issue."

David's face fell. "Yeah... I know. I know very well."

Ariel smiled at him, gently patting his cheek. "Go, David. Do what you must. So will I."

David swallowed. He nodded slowly, then whispered. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Ariel spoke quietly. Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

David nodded, wiping away a leaking tear. He turned and rejoined the Travelers, who were staring at the pair in trepidation. In a flash of light, they were gone once more, taken by Dragon's Light Bridge.

Ariel looked up at the sun, feeling the warmth of the day. The whisper of the wind. She relaxed her power, her asymmetrical wings unfolding about her. Reaching under her toga, she unsheathed an iron dagger, forged and honed in hopes of this moment. Opening her eyes, she looked at it, gently testing its edge, its point, with her fingers.

Such a small thing. Her end would not make up for those she slew, those she drove mad, those she condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment for the madness they may or may not have. But there was nothing that could remove that stain. Mere time would allow it to fade. It never would, so long as she lived.

"Find the next one worthy of my mantle. One who will not abuse the power of fate, however weak and frail it may be here. One who will help inspire the world. One who is better than I."

Then she lifted it, brought it before her, and drove it into her own heart.


	106. Epilogue: Foundations part 5

A/N: So very long to get here. This part and one more to go. Phew.

* * *

 _March 26, 2012_

The man once known as Marquis walked up the driveway, sparing a single glance to the shimmering forcefield dome that still covered the city.

His former mansion still stood, though it was dilapidated and falling apart. It didn't look safe to enter. Perhaps some foolish children would, carrying cameras to document a 'haunted house' which rested only in their fantasies. He had been somewhat surprised that the property hadn't been reclaimed, but considering Brockton Bay...

Well, it wasn't that much of a surprise, in retrospect. The rich already had their own places, the poor couldn't afford to buy up the property, and those that might have wanted to purchase the mansion and rebuild it for a profit would have had to deal with the holes in the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, brought on by Jean's power, the Brigade's attempts to deal with him, and weathering respectively.

A figure was sitting on the old, rotted porch. His heart skipped a beat as he saw her brown hair, her mousy features. She looked up at him, her eyes piercing and _glowing_ blue, and she smiled. If it were not for those disconcerting eyes, he would have thought she was his Anna, returned from the grave. If, of course, she had grown younger by twenty years.

The two stared at each other awkwardly.

Finally, Jean managed to sigh. "I had hoped for this day for twelve years."

Amelia smiled weakly. "You look a little different than I remember. Not that it's a whole lot. Your voice, though..."

"Amelia." He stepped forward, extending his hand.

Smiling, she took it, getting to her feet. "Father. Dad." She shook her head. "I have no idea how to talk to you."

He managed a wry smile. "And I've got the impulse to tuck you into bed and read The Cat in the Hat. The last time you and I spent time together, we went for ice cream on the boardwalk."

Amelia laughed softly. "I remember a little of the stories. I think my favorite was Green Eggs and Ham, though now that I think about it that sounds so very gross. Going for ice cream actually sounds good."

Warmth blossomed in his chest. It was her, his Amelia. Different, perhaps, but she remembered. Together, father and daughter began walking toward his rental car. He paused as he spotted two blondes off in the distance, though far enough away that yelling would barely reach them. "Is that Brandish?"

Amelia grinned. "And Glory Girl, my sister. Yes, you've got amnesty for volunteering to fight Scion, and helping with the medics afterward. But Mom... Brandish, still has her own issues with you. And she's acting a bit overprotective of both of us, since the Nine came. Thankfully, they're all dead now."

Jean bit his lip, then nodded. "Will they be following us the whole way?"

Amelia snorted. "Probably. They've both got a pretty protective streak going."

"By the way she's glaring at me, if dear Brandish had a Blaster power, we'd both be dead already."

"She has issues. We're working on them, but it's taking a while. Still, at least we're talking about the problems, now." Amelia looked at Jean with a faint smile. "I'd suggest not pulling anything, though. She doesn't forgive very easily."

Jean smiled faintly. "Neither do I. Given everything, though, I can respect her."

Together, the pair got in the car. "So, any allergies I should know about?" Jean asked conversationally.

"Just that I'm a vampire. I'll just drink from a bloodpack or two if we go out to eat."

He blinked. Turning, he looked at her. Amelia just returned the look, with a slightly fanged-smile.

Finally, he managed to swallow, his hands tight on the steering wheel. "Well, I'm sure we'll figure something out."

* * *

 _March 30, 2012_

Emily Piggot stepped into what had once been her office.

She hadn't seen it for seven months. Running around the world, putting out fires. Or rather, at least in her case, constructively setting them. Nilbog's spawn were eradicated, their remains destroyed. Then heading off probing attacks from the CUI into eastern Russia. _Then_ working around the clock to set geothermal plants around Yellowstone with Dragon, which not only produced electricity but helped sap the heat from the magma within. Which should help at least delay it from going off, or at best prevent it.

Volcanoes were tricky things, Emily learned very quickly. Supervolcanoes like Yellowstone were more so. The only reason the plants worked was the portal technology. Destabilisation might have occurred otherwise.

Renick looked up. He looked tired, though overall less stressed than in her memories. He smiled as he saw her, springing to his feet. "Director!"

"Former Director," she said fondly. "That's your position now."

He chuckled nervously as he sat back in his chair. "Yes, you're right. You resigned. Force of habit." He smiled again. "You're looking well."

She shrugged. "Thirty pounds down, I'm feeling good, and younger. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to not feel pain."

Renick nodded with understanding. Then he coughed. "Umm..." He gestured upward.

Emily sighed, patted her head, then concentrated, managing to suppress the fire sprouting from her hair. "Thanks. That keeps happening."

"I can imagine that's rather annoying," Renick said, trying to keep his lips from twitching.

Emily sighed. "Very much. I still need to collect my things..."

Renick nodded. "I've had everything gathered... would have mailed them, but you didn't leave us an address."

Emily snorted. "Didn't really have one. Busy running around the planet. Now, though, I'm moving to a little place in Wyoming." She brought up her hand, a ball of fire forming in it. "Since I'm _apparently_ a goddess and all that, I'm feeling a need to build something about this whole fire goddess thing."

Renick smiled ruefully. "Sounds insane, doesn't it?"

"That's what I said!"

Renick's phone rang. He looked down, sighed, then back at Emily.

With a smile, Emily gestured for him to take it. He picked up the receiver. "Renick." A few moments passed as he listened with a slight frown. Then he laughed helplessly. "Right. She's here. We'll be by in a few minutes." He hung up and gave Emily a grin. "We need to head on over to conference room A."

"Oh?"

* * *

Emily blinked in surprise, standing at the doorway to conference room A.

Lined up was the entirety of the Protectorate ENE. Armsmaster, Neptune, Miss Militia, Salacia, Dauntless, Assault, Battery, Triumph and Velocity. In front of them stood the Wards, Aegis, Clockblocker, Gallant, Kid Win, Paladin, and Vista. Off to the side was a maskless blonde teen in gray.

"Attention!" Armsmaster barked.

As one, they saluted.

A smile nearly splitting her face, Emily spoke. "At ease."

Hands dropped, tenseness dropping from their stances.

Clockblocker cleared his throat. "Director."

Vista nudged his side.

Catching himself, Clockblocker coughed. "Sorry, I know that's not accurate now, but habit. Ma'am. We rarely liked each other. I know we argued a lot. I know there were a lot of times you were angry with me pulling some stunt or another. Especially my announcement."

An amused titter went around the room.

"You were a hardass, Ma'am, and we resented you for it sometimes. We disagreed a lot. But you were also fair. You were a hardass, but you were _our_ hardass, and despite our disagreements, I think we're going to be a bit less without you running the show."

Emily's lip twitched. "That was very touching, Clockblocker. Thank you."

"I helped him write it," the teen in gray said with a smile.

"Andrea!" a scandalized Clockblocker exclaimed.

"Oh, shush. You wanted to grovel about not being worthy."

"Well, I'm not! I'm not worthy of such an awesome girlfriend, either!"

Andrea grinned. "Hey, you're fun. I've still yet to get a good picture of you in a dress."

Armsmaster growled in warning. "Clock, Andrea."

The teen hero cleared his throat. "Sorry sir." He turned fully back to Emily. "Despite everything, we're going to miss you here. We hope you do well, wherever you go."

Emily smiled. "Thank you." Long-dormant habits reasserted themselves, and she saluted.

As one, the gathering saluted back.

* * *

 _May 15, 2012_

"So," Pandora 'spoke', her armored suit shifting a little as she drove a forcefield generator into the lunar surface. Without air, true speech was impossible, but radio signals worked just fine.

"So," Dragon returned, amusement in the simulated voice on the return. "We're here, just the two of us, on the far side of the Moon. Well, the one of me and a few hundred million of you, but that's just being pedantic." In the form of her golden suit, she reached over, a flare of light appearing, and the moment it faded another forcefield generator was left behind. She passed it to Pandora.

"Well, first of all, you met Armsmaster after we split. I can see you've got a thing for him. _Why_ I don't get, but hey, you're technically older and can make your own decisions."

"Gee, thanks," Dragon said dryly.

Pandora drove the generator into the lunar soil. "Well, this isn't easy for me either, you know. We started technically the same, but now we're pretty different. You're able to take on fleshy bits, for one thing."

"And you're always hooked up to the internet. Hell, you're more omnipresent than I am, and I'm _actually_ a goddess."

"But _you_ can go and fly right up to the sun. I can't."

Another generator flared into existence as the pair moved to the next point. Dragon's voice had an amused undertone. "Are we really arguing over who has it better right now?"

"No, no, nononono... actually I suppose we are," Pandora said as she took the generator and drove it downward.

Dragon shrugged. "Look, you and I are different now. I'm not sure how this works, exactly. I do know we have souls, but we're not quite the same. I'm fairly sure it was due to our time apart."

Pandora sighed over the line. "Yeah. You got to go out and try and be a hero. I was enslaved by Cauldron for their projects. I get why they did it, but it doesn't mean I need to be happy about it."

"Mm. A common sentiment going around these days."

The work continued. After several hours, the ring had been constructed.

Dragon would have grinned had she been in her human form. "Alright, let's fire it up."

The faintly green dome snapped into existence, then brightened as the overlapping forcefields reinforced each other and set themselves in layers. Then a haze formed in the center of the dome as the atmospheric generator activated, beginning the long slow process of filling the interior with breathable air.

Dragon checked the readings. "Excellent. Zero point zero zero zero three-six atmosphere loss. This will work just fine."

"Physical domes will work better as a backup, though," Pandora noted. "It wouldn't be very good for a colony to die because of a power failure."

"Quite right," Dragon agreed. "This will work for setting up terraforming stations, though."

"Heh. Yep. Mars next?"

"Damn right. I also want to see what we can pull off with Venus. Though that is going to take a lot longer."

* * *

 _May 22, 2012_

Alaura, Lady of Winter, groaned as she struggled to walk further forward, feeling as if her white dress and crystalline hair were made of lead.

"Come now, we've only got a little further to go." Iona, Lady of Summer, spoke with a chiding tone, the woman's dress of grass and flowers almost cloyingly sweet. As summer approached in the Northern Hemisphere, Iona's strength was waxing while Alaura's was waning, making the Winter goddess feel a fair bit of resentment. That she'd had to work for _months_ to lessen the effects of the volcanic winter.

Without the efforts of the greater gods and the technology of these people, there would have been few places in the north with human life still in it. Now, things were improving, but the scars left by Scion were going to be visible for centuries.

Still, the pair approached the fields of India. The subcontinent had been badly devastated, the grinding poverty of most of the region having made the problem far worse. While this area had little snow, the volcanic winter had deposted great amounts of rain and had washed away a lot of the topsoil. What was left was nearly barren, as seawater had splashed inland and salted the fields. Not during Ragnarok itself, but the aftershocks.

"Ready?" Iona spoke.

Alaura nodded.

Together, the goddesses clasped hands. Together, they worked to tweak the weather over the field. Together, they forced the soil to dry, for the salt to be buried farther below, for the roots and seeds to begin growing and ripening out of season.

Alaura lent her strength to her counterpart. This was Iona's time to shine. After an hour's worth of work, where before lay a nearly-dead and barren field was a rich, ripe and strong farmland filled with wheat. Enough to feed hundreds.

Gasping, Alaura broke her grasp. Iona supported her weight as the pair of goddesses watched as Indian farmers came upon the sight and reacted with shock.

"Three more to go," Iona said.

Alaura groaned. "You are _so_ helping me with Russia."

Iona groaned. "Right. Fine."

* * *

 _June 1, 2012_

 _Earth Zayin_

"They are coming! I swear to you they are!"

Doctor Tennant, a younger reedy man in his early thirties, tilted his glasses down. "Miss Winstar, I think you can excuse our skepticism. There have been no sightings of a 'golden man' or a white woman, doing anything. We have no records of powers appearing before last year, and those few who do are either creating slightly-more advanced technology and getting rich or attempting to pull a crime and getting killed by police response."

The black woman in the straightjacket glared back. "Your apocalypse has already begun! They will come here! They want to kill all of humanity. They will shatter our world into a billion pieces! We thought we killed the first one, but I was _wrong_. I _failed_. And now _everyone will die_ because I failed!"

"These delusions are worrying, Olivia," Tennant spoke softly. "We can't help you as long as you persist in believing in this fantasy of parallel worlds."

" _My name's not Olivia!"_

He sighed, taking a moment to rub his eyes. "Regardless of your delusions, you _are_ Olivia Winstar. We identified you as a missing person from over thirty years ago."

" _I am not that per-"_ There was a pop. The straightjacket fluttered to the ground.

Doctor Tennant blinked. "Well. She apparently really _is_ teleporting between dimensions. This... is going to be very awkward to explain."

* * *

 _September 30, 2012_

Danny opened his eyes blearily as a wailing, needy cry intruded on his consciousness.

Hannah, lying next to him, laughed softly as she got up, taking a moment to kiss his cheek. "Get some more sleep, Danny. I can handle her."

Danny sighed and nodded, relaxing back on the bed as Hannah stepped off into the next room.

Nearly a year they'd been together. Over a year since Taylor dropped into her coma. So much of his life had changed. So much of the world had changed.

Hearing the cooing of Hannah's voice in the next room, Danny sighed and got up. He went in, seeing Hannah tending to Rose, the young infant now quietly and contentedly suckling on a bottle as Hannah rocked her back and forth.

At her questioning look, he smiled sheepishly as he whispered. "I can't get back to sleep now. I'll get on breakfast."

She smiled, a soft chuckle escaping her. Danny leaned down, kissed Rose on the forehead, and went to the kitchen.

His house, or rather, the land it had been on, was sold off. He hadn't the means to fix it, not after the damage it took in Ragnarok. As many memories were bound up in it, as sorry as he had been to place the 'For Sale' sign in front of it... he knew to stay would eventually kill him. Staying there, even with Hannah visiting, reminded him far too much of those long dark months when his Taylor was in the ground. It was only the fact that he knew she was still there, still able to drink her blood, still responding, if slightly, to his voice, that he managed to keep going. Long enough, at least, to find more reasons to live.

He went through their kitchen, making breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast. Simple and hearty. Hannah didn't need sleep, but she still needed food like everyone else, and she enjoyed his company. Truth be told, he loved hers as well.

He just hoped that Annette could forgive him. Nothing could _replace_ her, of course. But the prospect of living alone for the rest of his days wasn't one he could bear. He could honor her, though. That was one of the many reasons Rose was named Rose. Annette's middle name.

He would never forget his first love. Even as a new one grew.

He kept cooking as Hannah padded into the kitchen, gently bumping a giggling Rose in her hands. She'd inherited her mother's dusky skin, and she was such an _adorable_ little thing. Even when he was operating on three hours of sleep.

The phone rang. Hannah looked at him with a bit of pleading in her eyes.

With a chuckle, Danny went and grabbed the phone. "Danny Hebert."

" _Ah, Mister Hebert. This is Caroline Winters at Tranquillity Colony. She's awake."_

* * *

Tranquillity Colony had quickly expanded under the direction of the British. Aided by the Shadow Portals, Dragon, Pandora and Castlevania's citizens, it had expanded from a cramped twenty-room concrete bunker built mostly underneath the lunar surface into a domed community a hundred strong and growing. Forcefields and reinforced domes kept the vacuum at bay, while allowing a beautiful look at the Earth overhead.

For most of the last year, it had been stained, dirty, racked with stormclouds and winter chills. But it was recovering. Every passing week the globe of the Earth looked just a little bit better than before.

For Danny, it was quite a sight. He hadn't been born yet during the original Apollo missions, at best watching the footage on documentaries as he was growing up. He never imagined her would actually be here, especially without a spacesuit. His feet were light as he carefully walked over the newly-paved roads. He had to move slowly to keep from literally bouncing down the street in the lower gravity. That his mood _wanted_ him to go bounding actually made it harder. The structures had an odd aesthetic to them, the medieval style that dominated the structure of Castlevania, while being made out of space-age materials. It was as if someone modernized one of the old French castles and plunked it on the Moon.

Danny found his way to his daughter's quarters. A tower that loomed over the rest of the colony, though thankfully it was equipped with an elevator. On one side, it provided a view of the growing colony. On the other, it looked out at the barren lunar surface. The top chamber of the tower was luxurious, an opulent bedroom, washroom and entertainment center built for the needs of the Lady of Darkness.

He found Taylor standing in her bedroom, looking out the window at the barren lunar landscape, a goblet in one hand while the other rested on the transparent aluminum that served as glass. She was still in her demonic form, her red and black wings folded around her neck, almost appearing as if they were a single, unnatural cloak.

Danny cleared his throat. "Taylor?"

She whipped around, her red eyes widening as she caught sight of him. The goblet fell to the floor, the splash of blood on the floor showing it had been full. Then he found himself glomped on by his daughter, arms and wings wrapped around his form as she clung to his chest.

Together, they wept.

Awkwardly, Danny rubbed her back, his cries of joy and relief escaping him.

Eventually, her voice cracking, Taylor spoke. "I was dreaming about Mom, you know." She sniffed. "I didn't want it to end. You, me, her, on a picnic. I think I was eight when we actually had it."

Danny smiled. "Yeah. Over by Brockton's Landing, right? I remember."

Taylor nodded into his shirt, her voice muffled. "After a while I began to realize it was just a dream... I tried to wake up, but I was just so tired. I couldn't. Not til now." She sniffed, then let out a soft giggle. "Wasn't expecting to wake up on the Moon, though."

Carefully, Danny tilted her head up, then kissed her forehead. "You've been asleep for more than a year, kiddo. A fair bit's changed. Meridia wanted you somewhere safe while she ran things as far as your... uh, subjects, were concerned. Nobody can get here without going through a _lot_ of security."

Taylor relaxed a little, clearly enjoying the feel of her father's warmth. "I'll bet. How's everyone?"

"Vicky and Amy want to see you. But I think first you should come by our place first."

Taylor lifted an eyebrow. "'Our' place?"

Flushing in embarrassment, Danny lifted his hand and showed the gold ring on his finger. "Hannah and I... um... we got married about three months ago."

"Oh. Um, congratulations."

He swallowed. "And you've got a little sister, Rose."  
 _  
"What."_

Taylor stared with fascination at Rose. Rose stared right back. Then she let out a happy cry, spreading her arms, reaching for her inhuman elder sister.

Hannah laughed softly. "It's alright." Carefully, Hannah handed the infant over, giving Rose an affectionate rub on top of the head.

Taylor rocked her little sister back and forth, looking into her eyes. Then she laughed softly as Rose tugged on her long white hair. "Hey, hey! Easy there!" She gave a smile to the giggling infant and booped Rose on the nose.

Then Taylor wrinkled her nose. "Uh...I think she just went."

Rose giggled happily. Hannah sighed. "Right. Give her here."


	107. Epilogue: Finale

A/N: This has been more than two years worth of work. It took a lot longer than I expected to get here. I'd hoped to have it done in under a year, but circumstances just didn't work out that way.

Regardless, it's here. The finale. I'm glad to have finished this, but I'm also sorry that it has to end.

* * *

 _May 10, 2020_

"Mister Cruz? Are you paying attention?"

Soma gave a start in his chair. "Yes, Sensei. Many apologies." He forced his spine to straighten, wincing as he felt the bruises on his chest rest against his clothes.

Soma didn't like school much. It was mostly boring, but it was also the place where he ended up getting into fights. Though Shinji _definitely_ deserved _his_ bruises, which the large bully picked up after trying to steal Mina's book from Soma.

Soma had a fair bit of satisfaction at seeing the other kid lying on his back, bleeding from the nose. All talk, a lot of bark, but not all that much bite.

Mister Robinson, a caucasian man in his fifties, nodded at the eight year old. "Do pay attention. I know English isn't the most exciting subject, but it is the most common international language. Understanding English will open a lot of doors for you in the future."

Embarrassed at all the amused stares of his fellow students, Soma ducked his head. "Yes, Sensei."

With a slight smile, Robinson turned back to the board. "Now, translation between Japanese and English is not straightforward. The rules and syntax are very different. It's all right to make mistakes, that's how we learn. Now..."

Soma let himself absorb the lesson, trying to not let his mind wander. Unfortunately, the schoolboy's mind kept coming back to more pleasant matters. Like the chance to get outside and enjoy that beautiful sunny day out there.

More importantly, Mina was coming back to Miyako. She'd been away at the Kyushu shrine at Shimonoseki, or rather what had been left of Shimonoseki. Leviathan's attack on Kyushu had been devastating, not just to the island itself but also to the rest of the country. After Ragnarok, and in honor of Leviathan's slayer, a shrine to the Lady of Darkness had been erected at Shimonoseki. Mina's whole family went to pay their respects, both to the fallen and to the Dark Lady, but it still meant that he was separated from her for nearly a week.

The bell rang, and Soma nearly sprang to his feet, grabbing his bag. He barely heard Robinson as the man spoke. "Now remember we have the next class on Monday. Make sure you do assignments three and four. Have a good weekend."

Soma hurried through the rush of students. He slammed his way out of the school as fast as his legs could carry him, a grin on his face as he rushed through the neighborhood. It was a _fantastic_ day out, and he... ran straight into a tall foreign man with black hair who walked around the corner. Soma nearly fell, only for the fall to be stopped by a grip of steel.

"Easy there." The man with crack-like scars on his face spoke in flawless Japanese. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" He released Soma, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Apologies, sir. I'm rushing to see a friend." Embarrassed, Soma brushed off his sleeve. That grip was _very_ strong. He looked up wonderingly at the man, a faint hint of familiarity trickling in Soma's heart... for some reason, he expected the man's blue eyes to be gold.

"I see." He laughed softly. "Well, don't let me keep you, young man. Just be wary of what's near you, not simply your distant goal, hm?"

Soma bowed his head. "Yes sir." He darted around the man, heading just up the street. When he reached Mina's house, just three down from his own, he felt elated as he saw her family's car in front of it. Eagerly he rang the doorbell.

A moment later, it was flung open. "Soma!" Mina folded her arms imperiously as she looked him up and down. "About time you got back!" She shook a finger in his face. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to get my book back? You didn't forget it, did you?"

Soma grinned, slipping his backpack off and retrieving the book she'd leant him. "The Odyssey, returned in mint condition, my lady." With a flourish, he handed it over. "It was actually pretty neat. Odysseus was a jerk, but he was interesting too."

Mina laughed. "Oh, yes. I always find the old heroes of legend interesting. I'm doing a comparison of him and Miyamoto Musashi. Haruka wants to do her comparison project on Dracul and Oda Nobunaga."

Soma blinked. "Dracul's the Dark Lady's predecessor, is he not? Hasn't she stated what they have of him is fragmentary?"

Mina shrugged. "Most of the libraries were apparently destroyed, but some remained. We have a few paintings of him, and some statues. It should be interesting." She smiled. "Would you like to come in and help me on the project?"

Soma wasn't entirely sure why, but he felt very, _very_ happy. He grinned as he stepped inside.

* * *

Alucard's voice was quiet as he walked alongside his companion. "He doesn't remember."

"You're sure it's him?" A rather pretty young woman spoke. Her hair was long and black, and she appeared to be right in the prime of her life, aside from the paleness of her skin.

"Aye. My father's soul and mine were linked. T'was the source of my immortality. Over great distances I felt little, but close to him my soul sang to his. Soma Cruz was, once, Dracul, but he need no longer be so." Alucard dipped his head. "I shall keep an eye upon him, ensure he lives free and as happy as I can. He, and my mother, deserve at least one lifetime free to make their own choices, and not have it stolen from them."

Taylor smiled and nodded. "Well, it's good he was freed. I was fairly sure I managed when I destroyed what was left of the dead Abomination, but I couldn't be a hundred percent sure. Anyway, I'm pretty sure if he did remember, he'd either be a wreck or completely insane." She flicked her hair over her shoulder, running her finger along a nearby brick wall. "Feels a little odd to be in human shape again now. Got used to the wings."

Alucard smiled indulgently. "I can imagine. My own see little use, but losing them would be odd, even if it were only temporary." He took a moment to breathe in, enjoying the clean air. "Tis strange to look almost as I did when I was alive. Grace seems to appreciate it, however." He ran his fingers through his dyed-black hair. "Interesting ways of cloaking your appearance. Although I admit I would very much enjoy being able to look at myself in the mirror again."

Taylor shrugged. "Sorry, can't really help that one. I'm barely getting used to shaping myself to look how I want. Stuck at twenty-five forever, fine. Stuck at fifteen... not so fun. Amy helped with that one."

Trying to stick to the shade, the pair of vampires walked the streets of Miyako. Some took notice of the pair of foreigners, but few spared more than a passing glance. The world was becoming more interconnected, and even fairly isolationist Japan was opening up, if reluctantly.

"How is Grace?" Taylor asked as the pair reached a pristine park, taking cover beneath the shade of the trees.

Alucard smiled. "Quite well. We have been travelling together, seeing the world. I think we shall end the journey at Paris. I'm told it is a common place to propose."

Taylor grinned. "Congratulations. I hope you two will be very happy together."

"We are." Alucard smiled sagely. "This is simply deepening our ties and our bond. I have missed her, greatly."

Once they reached a clearing out of sight, Taylor opened a portal to the Shadow Plane. The pair emerged into Castlevania's courtyard.

Alucard took a moment to look around. "It's different than I remember." The walls were smooth, as if carved from a single immense piece of black marble. The towers loomed above, studded with electric lights. The central tower that held the throne room had been rebuilt, but there were many more structures linked to it now, making it look like an immense spider's web.

Taylor shook her head. "I couldn't rebuild it the way it was. Your father built it originally, and I have a fair few of his memories, but nowhere near all of it. Besides," she smiled wryly. "The castle itself vetoed some of the changes I wanted to make. _Necessary_ changes."

The castle itself quivered.

Taylor tilted her head. "No, no, considering what happened _last_ time, no. It took three seconds for you to shift into the Shadow Plane when Scion attacked. We've got it down to half a second. It had to be faster. Plus, considering where we're going, _more_ changes had to be done too."

Alucard chuckled softly as the black walls surrounding the courtyard seemed to pout.

* * *

 _June 3, 2020_

Michael Shepard, a thirty-five year old test pilot, thumbed the communications console. "Houston, this is Shepard. All lights are green, awaiting permission to engage."

" _Roger Shepard, stand by for systems confirmation."_

He took a moment to look out the window, the Moon and the Earth drifting by. From this distance, they looked like a pair of blue and gray specks. If it wasn't for the FTL transmission systems made available by the portals, he'd have to wait for five seconds between transmission and reception back at Mission Control.

Magic _definitely_ had its uses.

" _This is Mission Control, you have a go."_

Shepard grinned. "Roger Houston, powering up the Vista drive."

The heroine Vista, space-warper, after extensive testing of her power, allowed humanity to eventually reverse-engineer the principles of her power. Back on Earth, the drive was powered by a dedicated fusion reactor and took a ludicrous amount of fuel to provide the required electricity. If not for the portals, the ship carrying the drive would have had to be the size of an aircraft carrier to handle the required load. Instead, the _Constellation_ test ship was 'only' the size of a train car.

Shepard read off the countdown. "FTL in five, four, three, two, one..." He gripped the controls, exhaling a breath.

The space outside the front window shifted and warped. The stars seemed to jitter, _brighten_ , darken, spread apart and shift closer together. Then there was a flicker, and space outside the ship warped. There was no sensation of speed, no distortion, no sense of sickness. The portal at the back of the cabin that served as Shepard's emergency exit remained, thankfully, open.

After sixty seconds, the drive shut off. Shepard checked his instruments, and grinned. Aiming the cameras, he whistled as he directed the computer to take pictures of the planet below the _Constellation,_ wondering at being the first human to be so far away from home. On a whim, he shifted the ship to flip itself around, so he could enjoy the view with his own two eyes.

"Houston, this is Shepard. Vista drive is a success. And the weather on Neptune looks mighty fine."

He couldn't help but laugh a little at the cheers that reached over his comms.

* * *

 _September 3, 2020_

Taylor smiled. "So, how were the lessons today?"

Rose shrugged. "Okay I guess. Lessons are lessons." The eight year-old girl sounded tired, her legs swinging back and forth on her chair. She had her nose down as she scribbled on a page resting on the kitchen table, though from the shapes of it, it didn't look like she was doing anything more than doodling.

Taylor's smile turned into a frown. "If anyone's giving you trouble..."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Please, no. If anything I'm bored. I don't have any friends my age." She looked up at Taylor, seriousness in her brown eyes. "Mostly because I've got private tutors and I'm not in public school."

Sighing, Taylor nodded. "Dad's got a real problem with them, considering what happened to me. I wouldn't be happy about you going either, considering."

Rose grimaced. "Yeah. It's just..." She huffed, then looked up at Taylor. "I got to hang with the neighborhood kids for a while there. Now they're all off at school and I'm being homeschooled."

Sighing again, Taylor settled into the seat opposite Rose. "I'll tell you a secret. Dad's afraid."

Rose blinked. "But Dad's not the scaredy type. He shooed out that _huge_ spider from my room last week."

Taylor laughed at that. "The thing is, Dad nearly lost me when I was older than you. I don't think you can grasp how bad it was for him." She shook her head. "He's afraid of losing you like he lost my Mom and thought he lost me. It's only because I changed that I came back, and he didn't know that for three months."

For Rose, three months was an unimaginably long span of time. That was like, forever! "That why I can spot unca John hanging around?"

Taylor looked suspiciously over at the kitchen sink. Almost shyly, a hand of water lifted out, waved at her, then sank back down. "Yes, I suppose that's why. That's pretty creepy, too."

"Says the vampire," Rose said smugly.

Taylor stuck out her tongue.

"Real mature."

"Right, fine," Taylor huffed, her lips curling up into a smile. "Point is, Dad doesn't want you to be hurt. I did a lot of things that scared him. He never liked it when I went out to stop people who were trying to hurt others. It scared him when I went to fight Endbringers. It scared him when I went to fight Scion. He lost me once, and I came back from a miracle. He knows he can't count on a second one if anything happened to you, or your Mom."

Rose frowned. "But I'll be fine!"

"It's not easy to convince yourself of that. He knows that anyone who _did_ hurt you would answer to either your Mom or me, but that won't help if you _do_ get hurt."

Rose clenched her teeth. "But I haven't got any friends!"

Taylor opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she chuckled. "Right. That's not fair to you. I remember how it felt to be isolated. I'm sorry. I'll talk to Dad about it." She lifted a finger and pursed her lips. "There's some stuff you'll have to keep quiet about though. Especially about your Mom's job."

Rose nodded seriously, a smile splitting her face. "Yesem. I'll won't say nothin!"

Taylor chuckled. "Alright, my little mobster. I'm not promising anything, but I'll push for you."

* * *

 _September 10, 2020_

Upon the surface of the Moon, Taylor walked.

There was a strange, pristine beauty about it. Airless, ludicrously hostile to human life. Barren. The Sun blazed on the horizon, unfiltered and powerful. Taylor could feel its heat and light attempting to sear away the protective coating of blood armor around her undead flesh. The only other vampire that could have possibly withstood that light was Dracul, and only when he had the Mantle of Darkness.

Still, here was a sight only a few hundred had seen, and of them, only twelve walked freely on this world, unhindered by a forcefield or walls, though encumbered by a spacesuit. Perhaps, in time, even that would not be necessary. Granted, to geoengineer the Moon into a habitable world would take many, many centuries.

 _Well, everyone needs a hobby,_ Taylor thought with some amusement.

She lifted her hand. Darkness spread forth, amplified by the oncoming lunar night. It spread open, the weather effects or the storm that otherwise would have formed from the tearing of space-time failing to occur in this airless place. The ground shuddered as Castlevania tore itself out of the Shadow Plane, settling onto the lunar surface as gently as... well, a mountain-sized object could. Not very gentle at all, but at least it didn't shatter the Moon as it settled itself in place.

Part of the damage done by Scion during Ragnarok was a direct result of Scion's attack on the castle. If it hadn't been floating in the air, a piece of it shorn off and allowed to drop into the ocean, the tsunami that devastated the coastlines of the Atlantic would not have happened. If she'd been better, if she'd thought things through a bit more, those people would still be alive.

Thus, having the Castle floating above the water, or above the ground on Earth, was not going to happen again. Taylor resolved to make her kingdom somewhere where an attack on her and her people would not cause harm to anyone else.

It also happened that the Moon was almost uninhabited, and as she'd been made aware of previously, from the Moon, you're halfway to anywhere.

The Castle took its full shape, the ground shuddering on the lunar surface, cracks of heated rock and glowing lava surrounding the immense mass as it settled in place. A haze began to spread from the Castle as it began to vent breathable air out into the void, shield generators inside the castle itself keeping enough within for humans to survive, and eventually systems would be set in place for the entire surface of the Moon to become a habitable, if small, world.

Taylor drifted forward. In the darkness, it was hard to see, but she could see where new substance joined with the old. The castle's rebuilding was imperfect, even discounting the changes that were made. Along the outer wall it was fairly obvious, at least to her vampiric eyes, where Scion's light had erased the old part of it. The new section of wall was joined and forcibly melted into the old. The throne room's tower was shaped differently, no longer standing upon a thin spire, but instead bound at the center of a great rocky web.

But it was still home. She had been rebuilt, reforged after the battle, and it was now ready to grow into the future.

Taylor hoped she would be ready for it. New designs for ships to sail the void were already being built. Humans and demons alike were going to spread out into space. Negotiations with Earth Aleph were underway to provide the same opportunities for Bet's parallel as she was enjoying. The cosmos would finally be open for humanity after a century of dreaming.

And it all would start here, on the gray surface of the Moon.

* * *

 _October 31, 2020_

Within the center of a summoning circle, a form slowly took shape. Taylor lowered her hands, wiping her brow as she took a deep, shuddering breath. Though she wasn't capable of sweating, she could feel tired, and this task took a lot of time and effort.

Mist congealed itself, first shaping itself into bone. Then flesh and blood coalesced around it, as if the process of decay over decades or centuries reversed itself. Finally, Death stood there in the center of the circle, and the cosmic being let out a shuddering gasp. A moment later, his familiar black suit took shape around him, and he cast his eyes around the room.

Once they settled on Taylor, he sighed. "I do hope you did not murder anyone for this, my dear. I would be gravely disappointed if you did."

Taylor shook her head with a wan smile. "I know. I used cows. The soul-cords collected over the last five years on just some of them when they were brought to the slaughter. I'm running a lot of cattle ranches these days, Death."

Death took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "I see. I can feel it. The vessel is frail, fragile. It won't last long. Their substance isn't capable of handling me for long, even with a few million of them... a shame. It will only last a few minutes."

Taylor nodded. "I know. I'm sorry if it's uncomfortable. I know it's a bit selfish, but, I never got the chance to say goodbye to my mother. You were my friend, you helped me when I needed it, was willing to listen to me when I needed help and advice. I wanted to thank you, and give you a proper goodbye. I don't think I could go through this again, anyway... it felt awful just gathering up all the cords from cattle. Doing it to people would feel a lot worse... so I think this is going to be the last time we'll get to talk."

Death thought that over for a moment, then he let out a soft chuckle. "I can understand that, my dear. Though there will be _one_ more time, I think." Stepping from the circle, he spread his arms, and Taylor took the invitation, hugging the avatar of Death.

Death patted her back, enjoying the moment. After long minutes, he broke the hug and tilted Taylor's head up, gently wiping her cheek. "I'm glad you're alright. I'm glad you've grown into the person you've become. You are the Queen of Blood, Lady of Darkness, first of your line of vampires, and yet you've managed to maintain your humanity, even while surpassing my old friend. I am very proud of you, Taylor."

Taylor smiled weakly. "Thank you. And thank you for helping me when I needed it. Without help, I never would have managed. I'd have probably gone insane over those first few days. Thank you for that." She bit her lip. "Can... can you tell Mom something for me? Tell her I miss her. Tell her I love her."

He smiled gently. "She already knows." Death's smile grew a little sad as he gently stroked his fingers through Taylor's hair. "There will come a time when we meet again, my dear. Nothing, not even the stars or universes, lasts forever. You will have the privilege of living longer than most, longer than any mortal human might. But I do hope that, before that final night, before you choose to cast off your godhood and allow us to meet again, that you enjoy your life."

Taylor nodded silently.

With a faint smile, Death returned the nod. "Good. Now... two final things. Zion, who you knew as Scion, and his counterpart, Eden, were not the only ones of their kind. There are more out there, uncountably more throughout the cosmos. If humanity stays within the solar system, you will be easy pickings for another if they come your way. If you spread out, sooner or later you _will_ get the attention of another. There are other threats out in the void, as well. But I sense you do not believe there is much choice."

Taylor smiled at that. "We're going out there. We can't let fear rule us. And I think we've proven that the Abominations aren't invincible. We'll have to try and prepare as much as we can, even if that's simply by spreading out."

"I agree, my dear." Death smiled. "There are those you may call friends out there, too. Others who do not deserve to end as Zion threatened to do to humanity. Perhaps you will meet them." He shrugged. "The future is not my domain."

Taylor nodded. "And the second thing?"

Death smiled faintly. "A little gift. Annette just suggested it, and I am inclined to agree. Go to your quarters, you will find it." Gently, Death kissed her forehead, and his avatar began to unravel.

Taylor watched until the last bit of Death faded away, the ethereal strings that made him up dissolving into the background magic of the castle. A small amount of it shifted upwards, phasing through the stone ceiling of the summoning chamber, moving toward her quarters.

Curious, she went, taking her time to compose herself. She nodded and smiled as she passed by the castle's servants. Her golems, her succubi, her gremlins, her werewolves. Pandora suits gave her a nod as she passed by, working tirelessly to improve the Castle. Even those ordinary humans who now lived here and worked for her, helping to build a future for humanity.

When she reached her bedroom, she looked around. It was large and opulent, brought up to modern standards. Her bed was large enough, and comfy enough, to hold seven people with room to spare.

It was when she turned to the display cases filled with her personal effects, she saw it. Annette's flute, covered in and seething with the remaining magic Death released. Even as Taylor watched, the tarnish cleansed itself, the broken keys filled themselves in. The mouthpiece, which had been long-since dented and unusable, repaired itself. Over the course of a few long minutes, the damage done to it a decade before was gone, as if it never had happened.

With trembling fingers, she opened the display case and pulled out the now-pristine flute. The clean silver of its surface heated her fingers unpleasantly, irritating her skin... but at the moment, Taylor couldn't bring herself to care. It wasn't anything she couldn't ignore, anyway.

She brought it to her lips and played a soft song, even as the silver heated against her lips. It had been a long time since she played, but after a few minutes of practicing, it was as if she'd never stopped playing at all. Annette used to play it for her, when Taylor was little, and for a long moment, Taylor let herself be lost in the memory.

When she was finished, she muttered quietly. "Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Death." She went to put the flute back. Then stopped. Finally, she tucked the flute into her jacket, closing the empty display case.

The sound of a clearing throat caught her attention, and Taylor whipped around.

Amy was standing there, looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry. That looked personal. I didn't want to interrupt."

"It's fine," Taylor said. "Just remembering Mom."

Amy nodded, a small smile on her lips. "I figured it was something like that. Anyway, night's falling in Brockton. Rose is about to go trick-or-treating. You still coming?"

Taylor smiled. "Yeah." She gently fingered the flute in her pocket. "I think I'll play for her when we're done getting candy." Then she went over to Amy, giving the other girl a hug. "Then I think you and I can come back here and talk things out... we never did pick up after Scion. Hell, not after the hospital."

Amy blushed a little, nodding. "We've both been busy. Always seems like one thing or another came up."

"Yeah, but eight _years?_ Where does the time go?"

"To be fair, we're vampires. We've got the time."

Taylor laughed. "True, but no time like the present. I'm willing to experiment. Not sure we'll go anywhere, but I _do_ like spending time with you."

Amy smiled. "Me too. And maybe I'll stop dating blondes."

Taylor grinned. "Hey, Meridia liked being blonde for a while."

"Yeah, but it was awkward! She wanted to get me and Vicky in bed together! 'Help get it out of your system,' she said!" Amy shook her head. "Not taking advice from the succubus."

"What did you expect?"

"Not that!"

A moment passed, then the pair shared helpless laughter. Hand-in-hand, the two vampires went out the door.

* * *

The End.


End file.
